LOWY , J. We are called upon to interpret the standing requirement of G. L. c. 278A (chapter 278A). That statute "allows those who have been convicted but assert factual innocence to have access to forensic and scientific testing of evidence and biological material that has the potential to prove their innocence." Commonwealth v. Williams, 481 Mass. 799, 799 (2019). "A person may file a motion for forensic or scientific analysis under" chapter 278A if that person is, among other...
KAFKER , J. In Commonwealth v. Perez, 477 Mass. 677 , 688 (2017) ( Perez I ), we determined that the juvenile defendant, Fernando Perez, received a sentence for his nonhomicide offenses that was presumptively disproportionate under art. 26 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights in that the time he would serve prior to parole eligibility exceeded that applicable to a juvenile convicted of murder. We therefore remanded the matter to the Superior Court for a hearing to determine...
RESCRIPT Kyl V. Myrick appeals from a judgment of a single justice of this court denying his petition for relief in the nature of mandamus. Myrick's petition sought the reversal of a Superior Court judgment dismissing a civil complaint that he had filed in that court. That complaint concerned the denial of his applications for criminal complaints in the Boston Municipal Court Department. In his petition to the single justice, Myrick also challenged the Superior Court judge's declining to...
In 1993, Raymond P. Vinnie was convicted of murder in the first degree. After plenary review, we affirmed the conviction and the denial of his motion for a new trial. Commonwealth v. Vinnie, 428 Mass. 161 , cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1007 (1998), overruled on another ground by Commonwealth v. Paulding, 438 Mass. 1 (2002). In 2016, Vinnie filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to G. L. c. 248, 1, in the county court, arguing that he was unlawfully imprisoned pursuant to a...
LENK , J. On the morning of October 17, 2012, Alfonso Rivas was in his apartment building anticipating a sale of marijuana to Reginald Holley when Rivas was fatally shot in the head. Holley and Oasis Pritchett were convicted of felony-murder in the first degree, armed robbery, and possession of a firearm without a license, as joint venturers, in connection with the victim's death. Prior to trial, both defendants had moved unsuccessfully to suppress text messages obtained from their...
GANTS , C.J. Article 97 of the Amendments to the Massachusetts Constitution, approved by the Legislature and ratified by the voters in 1972, provides that "[l]ands and easements taken or acquired" for conservation purposes "shall not be used for other purposes or otherwise disposed of" without the approval of a two-thirds roll call vote of each branch of the Legislature. The issue on appeal is whether a proposed change in use of municipal parkland may be governed by art. 97 where the land...
HINES , J. The narrow question before us, here on a reservation and report from a single justice of the county court, is whether a juvenile who has been convicted of murder in the first degree, and whose conviction has been affirmed by this court after plenary review, is thereafter subject to the gatekeeper provision of G. L. c. 278, 33E. We conclude that the gatekeeper provision applies. The case should now proceed in the county court as a gatekeeper matter. Background. The defendant,...
LOWY , J. In June, 2010, near the height of the global economic downturn that became known as the Great Recession, the Secretary of the Executive Office of Administration and Finance (Secretary) submitted to the Legislature a request for an appropriation to fund collective bargaining agreements between the Commonwealth and two public employee unions reached more than thirteen months earlier. In the letter containing the request, the Secretary informed the Legislature that several...
GANTS , C.J. The issue presented on appeal is whether a city is entitled to summary judgment on a handicap discrimination claim under G. L. c. 151B, 4 (16), where the police department limits an officer to desk duty based on an informed, good faith belief that the officer can no longer safely patrol the streets because of his perceived handicap. We conclude that summary judgment is not appropriate where there are facts in dispute as to whether the officer is a qualified handicapped...
RESCRIPT The respondent attorney, David Zak, appeals from a judgment of a single justice of this court disbarring him from the practice of law. 1 We affirm. Background. Bar counsel filed a seven-count petition for discipline with the Board of Bar Overseers (board) against the respondent arising out of the respondent's solicitation and handling of a substantial number of mortgage loan modification cases over more than a four-year period. See note 10, infra. Count one alleged that the...
LENK , J. We are called upon in this case chiefly to consider whether G. L. c. 149, 148B, the independent contractor statute, is preempted by the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act of 1994 (FAAAA), 49 U.S.C. 14501(c). The plaintiffs, who contracted with the defendants through small corporations that the plaintiffs apparently formed for this purpose, performed services in Massachusetts as furniture delivery drivers. They brought this putative class action against the...
LOWY , J. Clifford E. George and Jacquelyn A. George married in 1989 and divorced in 2002. 1 Their separation agreement, and the judgment that followed, provided that Clifford would pay Jacquelyn monthly alimony. In 2013, Clifford filed a complaint for modification of the divorce judgment that sought, among other things, to modify his alimony obligation based on G. L. c. 208, 49 ( b ), part of the Alimony Reform Act, St. 2011, c. 124 (act), which became effective on March 1, 2012,...
LENK , J. This is the second time that the plaintiff labor union appeals from dismissal of the declaratory judgment action it first brought against the Department of Mental Health (DMH or agency) in 2012. Service Employees International Union, Local 509 (SEIU or union) maintains that certain contracts DMH made in 2009 with private vendors are "privatization contracts" subject to the requirements of the Massachusetts privatization statute, G. L. c. 7, 52-55 (Pacheco Law). The Pacheco Law...
LENK , J. In February, 2010, a Boston police detective investigating an armed robbery and shooting at a convenience store went to the defendant's high school, after suspicion had focused on the defendant as one of the three perpetrators. The detective spoke with a school administrator, who informed him that, pursuant to school policy, she was holding the defendant's cellular telephone. After consultation with his supervisor, the detective seized the telephone to prevent the defendant from...
LENK , J. In March, 2003, the defendant was convicted by a Superior Court jury of murder in the first degree, on a theory of deliberate premeditation, in the 1994 shooting death of Joseph O'Reilly in Quincy. On direct appeal from that conviction, the defendant argues that the judge erred in not allowing the admission of testimony by an expert on eyewitness identification, and in allowing the admission of testimony concerning a stocking cap with eye holes that was seized from a vehicle the...
SPINA , J. In this case, here on a reservation and report from a single justice of the county court, we consider whether the Commonwealth, by means of an anticipatory search warrant, can obtain possession of a cellular telephone that the defendant, Aaron Hernandez, gave to his attorney for the purpose of obtaining legal advice. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that, pursuant to G. L. c. 276, 1, a search warrant may issue for the seizure of the telephone because, absent such...
GANTS , C.J. Under G. L. c. 278, 29D, where a judge fails to advise a defendant during the plea colloquy that conviction may have the consequence of exclusion from admission to the United States, the conviction must be vacated upon motion of the defendant if the defendant shows that his or her conviction "may have" that consequence. The issue on appeal is what the defendant must show to establish that his conviction "may have" the consequence of exclusion from admission to the United...
CORDY , J. On the evening of September 25, 2006, James Cadet was shot and killed. The defendant, David T. Miller, who lived in the same apartment complex as the victim, was indicted for the murder three months later after several witnesses, as well as evidence seized during a search of his apartment building, linked him to the crime. The trial began in February, 2009. The defendant was allowed to conduct the trial pro se but standby counsel, who had been appointed to assist him, actively...
SPINA , J. The plaintiffs appeal from a judgment of the Land Court dismissing without prejudice their action to quiet title under G. L. c. 240, 6-10, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. 3 The thrust of their action is that a railroad easement formerly owned by the Pennsylvania Central Transportation Co. (Penn Central) across portions of their lands was abandoned when the United States Railway Association (USRA), acting pursuant to the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973,...
DUFFLY , J. This case requires us to decide whether the petitioner, Robert Wade, who filed a motion in the Superior Court seeking postconviction testing of biological material pursuant to G. L. c. 278A ("An Act providing access to forensic and scientific analysis") (act), see St. 2012, c. 38, has satisfied the requirements of the act and therefore is entitled to the testing he seeks. The Legislature enacted G. L. c. 278A to create a process "separate from the trial and any subsequent...
