GANTS, J. The defendant was convicted by a jury in the Superior Court on two indictments charging statutory rape, in violation of G. L. c. 265, 23. 1 The alleged victim was his then fifteen year old niece, Molly. 2 The defendant appealed from convictions, and we granted his application for direct appellate review. On appeal, the defendant argues that the judge erred by excluding expert psychological testimony regarding "dissociation" and the evidence from Molly's past that suggested...
IRELAND, C.J. A single justice of this court granted the Commonwealth leave to file an interlocutory appeal from a District Court judge's order in the Appeals Court, see Mass. R. Crim. P. 15 (a) (2), as appearing in 422 Mass. 1501 (1996). We transferred this case here on our motion to consider whether, in view of the enactment of G. L. c. 94C, 32L, inserted by St. 2008, c. 387, 2, which decriminalized possession of one ounce or less of marijuana, a defendant may be criminally charged with...
BOTSFORD, J. The issues in this appeal relate to insurance claims settlement practices of a primary and an excess insurance carrier. Marcia Rhodes 3 received catastrophic injuries including permanent paraplegia when a tractor trailer hit the rear end of her car in January of 2002. She; her husband, Harold; and her daughter, Rebecca (collectively, plaintiffs or family) brought a tort action against, among others, the truck driver, his employer, and the company to which he was assigned by his...
BOTSFORD, J. In July of 2008, the plaintiffs filed an appeal in the Superior Court from a decision of the defendant board of health of Southbridge (board) approving a "minor modification" to the site assignment for an existing landfill and related processing facility in that town under G.L. c. 111, 150A ( 150A). 3 The plaintiffs brought their appeal pursuant to G.L. c. 30A, 14. In response to a motion to dismiss, two judges in the Superior Court ruled that as parties before the board,...
GANTS, J. After the report and the transcript of an inquest was filed in the Superior Court, and a grand jury returned an indictment charging Amy Bishop with the murder in the first degree of her brother, Seth, the Globe Newspaper Company, Inc. (Globe), filed a motion in the Superior Court to inspect and copy the inquest report and the transcript of the inquest proceedings. Following hearing, a judge denied the Globe's motion and ordered the inquest report and transcript to be impounded until...
CORDY, J. This is an action for judicial review of a final decision and order of the Board of Registration in Dentistry (board) suspending Stephen Chadwick's license to practice dentistry in Massachusetts. Pursuant to G. L. c. 112, 64, Chadwick filed his appeal with the Supreme Judicial Court for Suffolk County. A single justice reserved and reported the case to the full court. In its decision, the board found that Chadwick failed to comply with Occupational Safety and Health...
SPINA, J. The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree on theories of deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty. He filed a notice of appeal on October 2, 1998, the day of the conviction, but appellate proceedings were stayed for several years pending the defendant's requests for further investigation. On March 30, 2005, the defendant filed a motion for a new trial that was augmented and expanded at various times in 2006 and 2007 before being denied without hearing...
CORDY, J. After his conviction in 2005 of murder in the first degree and carrying a firearm without a license, and while his appeal to this court was pending, the defendant filed a motion for a new trial and a motion for postconviction discovery relating to evidence not disclosed by the Commonwealth. We remanded the motions to the Superior Court. After separate hearings on the motions, the trial judge granted the defendant's motion for a new trial. The Commonwealth has now appealed. We...
IRELAND, C.J. The plaintiff, Thomas A. Atwater, a teacher with professional teacher status, 2 was dismissed by the superintendent of the Manchester Essex Regional School District (district) for multiple instances of conduct unbecoming a teacher. Atwater sought review of the dismissal by filing with the Commissioner of Education (commissioner) a petition for arbitration pursuant to G. L. c. 71, 42, fourth par., as appearing in St. 1993, c. 71, 44, the Education Reform Act of 1993 (act)....
IRELAND, C.J. The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree of the victim, Nicholas Martone, on the theories of felony-murder, deliberate premeditation, and extreme atrocity or cruelty. The defendant also was convicted of armed robbery as the predicate felony and three charges of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon. 1 On appeal, the defendant argues that there was insufficient evidence of armed robbery to support his conviction of felony-murder, that there were...
William Statkiewicz appeals from a judgment of a single justice of this court denying, without a hearing, his petition for extraordinary relief under G. L. c. 211, 3. Statkiewicz sought relief from an order of a judge in the Housing Court denying his motion to waive an appeal bond in connection with an appeal from a summary process judgment. Relief was properly denied, as Statkiewicz had one or more adequate alternative remedies. Indeed, he had pursued one such remedy, an appeal to a single...
SPINA, J. In this case we must determine whether a plaintiff has standing to maintain a try title action under G. L. c. 240, 1-5, where he is in physical possession of real property but his chain of title rests on a foreclosure sale conducted by someone other than "the mortgagee or his executors, administrators, successors or assigns." G. L. c. 183, 21 (statutory power of sale). See G. L. c. 244, 14 (procedure for foreclosure under power of sale). On his own motion, a Land Court judge...
After the defendant was tried in the Superior Court, convicted of several offenses, and sentenced, he appealed from his sentences to the Appellate Division of the Superior Court. See G. L. c. 278, 28B. The Appellate Division modified one of his three sentences. 1 The Commonwealth then filed a petition in the county court pursuant to G. L. c. 211, 3, challenging the Appellate Division's decision. A single justice of this court denied the petition without a hearing, and the Commonwealth...
DUFFLY, J. A jury in the Superior Court convicted the defendant of murder in the first degree in the shooting death of Henry Guzman, and of intimidation of a witness. The defendant appeals from the convictions, claiming that the trial judge committed reversible error when he (1) questioned the venire about whether the potential jurors believed the Commonwealth could prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt without presenting scientific evidence; (2) failed to instruct the jury pursuant to...
GANTS, J. On January 31, 2007, the Enforcement Section of the Securities Division of the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth (Secretary) filed an administrative complaint alleging that three "hedge funds" offered by Bulldog Investors General Partnership operating under the trade name "Bulldog Investors" had violated 301 of G. L. c. 110A of the Massachusetts Uniform Securities Act (Massachusetts act) by offering unregistered securities to a Massachusetts resident through a publicly...
Kathryn K. and Christian P. Culley appeal from a judgment of a single justice of this court denying, without a hearing, their petition for extraordinary relief under G.L. c. 211, 3. We affirm. Background. In 2006, the Culleys commenced an action in the Superior Court, alleging fraud, violation of G.L. c. 93A, and other claims arising from their purchase of a house which, they alleged, contained numerous undisclosed latent defects that rendered the house uninhabitable. A jury trial commenced...
GANTS, J. On April 30, 2009, Ralph C. Sullivan was stopped and issued a citation assessing a one hundred dollar penalty for a moving violation, failure to stay within a marked lane, in violation of G. L. c. 89, 4A. He requested a hearing before a clerk-magistrate in the District Court to challenge the citation, and received notice that the hearing had been scheduled for September 21, 2009. Sullivan was also notified that, to have his case heard, he would be required to pay a filing fee of...
CORDY, J. In the early morning hours of January 12, 1991, six men were shot execution-style in the basement of an illegal gambling parlor in the Chinatown section of Boston. Five of those men — Man Cheung, Van Tran, 2 Chung Wah Son, David Quang Lam, and Cuong Khand Luu — died from gunshot wounds to the head. A sixth man, Pak Wing Lee, survived and testified at the trial. After the shootings, arrest warrants were issued for the defendants, Siny Van Tran (Tran) and Nam The Tham (Tham), but by...
CORDY, J. The plaintiffs, Mark and Tara Casavant, brought an action against Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. (Norwegian), seeking a refund for two cruise tickets they purchased and cancelled, and damages under G. L. c. 93A for unfair and deceptive trade practices. A Superior Court judge granted Norwegian's motion to dismiss the Casavants' complaint on the grounds of a forum selection clause in the "contract of passage." The Appeals Court reversed and remanded the case for trial. Casavant v....
DUFFLY, J. The defendant was arrested following the recovery of a weapon in the glove box of a motor vehicle after it was searched by police. A complaint issued in the Boston Municipal Court Department charging him with carrying a dangerous weapon, G. L. c. 269, 10 ( n ); carrying a loaded firearm without a license, G. L. c. 269, 10 ( a ); possession of a firearm without a firearm identification card, G. L. c. 269, 10 ( h ); and defacing or obliterating the serial number on a firearm,...
