Commonwealth v. Forbes (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-103-14)
Affirmed mayhem conviction where defendant bit off substantial ear portion; vacated duplicative assault and battery conviction.
Lawyers
Commonwealth v. Dale (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-101-14)
First complaint testimony admissible despite victim's failure to remember making the complaint; discrepancies in memory go to weight, not admissibility.
Commonwealth v. Malick (and a companion case) (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-102-14)
Vacated and remanded probation revocation order; affirmed denial of sentence revision motion. Criminal restitution serves penal goals beyond victim compensation.
Commonwealth v. Selavka (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-150-14)
Illegal sentence may acquire finality barring later correction. GPS monitoring omitted from child pornography sentence became final after sixty-day Rule 29(a) deadline expired; adding it nearly one year later violated double jeopardy.
Commonwealth v. Guzman (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-149-14)
GPS monitoring mandatory for probationers convicted of child sexual abuse offenses; due process challenge rejected under rational basis test; Fourth Amendment claim not reached.
Commonwealth v. Forte (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-148-14)
Murder conviction affirmed where identification through videotape and photographic array was not unnecessarily suggestive, prior bad acts evidence properly limited to state of mind, and surveillance footage inconsistencies were for jury.
Becker v. Phelps (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-098-14)
Wife's alimony obligations did not automatically terminate when husband remarried under Alimony Reform Act where parties agreed surviving agreement was not modifiable.
Kewley v. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-099-14)
Appeals court affirmed that new licensing board for speech-language pathologists could require board licensure despite preexisting DESE license.
Hazel’s Cup and Saucer, LLC v. Around the Globe Travel, Inc. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-100-14)
Class action properly certified under TCPA for unsolicited fax advertisements. Judge erred denying certification based on disproportionality of statutory damages to actual harm.
Commonwealth v. Wright (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-146-14)
Murder conviction affirmed despite newly discovered third-party culprit evidence from alleged confession, because the evidence did not create substantial risk jury would reach different verdict.