The First Marblehead Corporation, et al. v. Commissioner of Revenue (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-010-15)
Financial institution excise tax apportionment; whether loan portfolios should be assigned to servicers' locations or taxpayer's commercial domicile.
Weekly
Commonwealth v. Fujita (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-009-15)
Juror names are presumptively public judicial records. Good cause, such as risk of harm, is required to withhold them. Personal preferences and privacy interests alone do not suffice.
Commonwealth v. Russell (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-008-15)
Reasonable doubt instruction using "firmly convinced" standard held constitutional but supervisory power exercised to require modernized Webster charge prospectively in all Massachusetts criminal trials.
Commonwealth v. Strickland (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-009-15)
Stepfather convicted of assaulting child who sustained severe brain injuries and extensive bruises. Affirmed despite exclusion of medical records showing child's self-inflicted injuries; eyewitness testimony of defendant's participation in abuse provided overwhelming evidence.
Commonwealth v. Ubeira-Gonzalez (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-008-15)
Defendant failed to show that laboratory analyst misconduct preceded his guilty plea or affected his case, so motion to withdraw pleas properly reversed.
Kelcourse v. Kelcourse (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-007-15)
Antenuptial agreement unenforceable where enforcement would leave wife with severely deteriorated home and insufficient property to support herself, warranting alternative distribution of marital assets.
Commonwealth v. Simpkins (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-007-15)
Defendant convicted of accessory after the fact and firearm possession; jury deadlocked on murder and assault. Court reverses denial of required findings of not guilty on murder and assault charges; insufficient evidence of prior agreement to aid shooters.
Commonwealth v. Corliss (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-006-15)
Affirmed convictions for first-degree murder, armed robbery, and firearms possession. Jury view attendance restrictions, prior firearm evidence, seized money handling, and expert surveillance video testimony all properly admitted or excluded under discretionary standards.
Commonwealth v. Bresilla (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-005-15)
Murder conviction affirmed where eyewitness identification, gunshot residue, and jacket identification supported guilt despite procedural lapses by police.
Kitras, et al. v. Town of Aquinnah, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-006-15)
Easements by necessity implied when tribal custom of common access predates partition of formerly shared lands into individual parcels.