Commonwealth v. Jewett (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-093-15)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us SJC-11796 COMMONWEALTH vs. ERIC A. JEWETT. Essex. March 3, 2015. – June 11, 2015. Present: Gants, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Duffly, Lenk, & Hines, JJ. Arrest. Search and Seizure, Arrest, Exigent circumstances, Probable cause, Pursuit. Probable Cause. Constitutional Law, Probable cause. Motor Vehicle, Operating under the influence. Complaint received and sworn to in the Newburyport Division of the District Court Department on February 16, 2010. A pretrial motion to suppress evidence was heard by Peter F. Doyle, J.; a motion for reconsideration was heard by him; and the case was tried before Michael A. Uhlarik, J. The Supreme Judicial Court on its own initiative transferred the case from the Appeals Court. Todd C. Pomerleau (Chase A. Marshall with him) for the defendant. Philip A. Mallard, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. John M. Collins, for Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association, Inc., amicus curiae, submitted a brief. CORDY, J. In this case we consider whether the hot pursuit of a suspect who has fled to a private home and who an officer has probable cause to believe has committed a misdemeanor for which imprisonment is possible, creates a sufficient exigency such that a warrantless arrest is lawful. We conclude that it does in the circumstances of this case. Background. We summarize the facts as found by the motion judge, and as supplemented by the testimony at the suppression hearing which he credited, see Commonwealth v. Isaiah I., 448 Mass. 334, 337 (2007), S.C., 450 Mass. 818 (2008), reserving certain details for our analysis of the issues raised on appeal. On February 14, 2010, at approximately midnight, Officer Richard Holcroft[1] of the Merrimac police department was on a routine patrol in a marked police cruiser. While traveling west on East Main Street he observed a male and female walking to a pickup truck in the parking lot of a bar. There were only a few vehicles in the lot and no other vehicles near where the truck was parked. All other businesses in the area were closed. Shortly thereafter, Holcroft’s attention was drawn to a different vehicle, traveling at a high rate of speed in the opposite direction on East Main Street. He reversed direction to pursue this speeding motor vehicle. While passing the bar again, Holcroft observed the first vehicle (the […]