CORDY, J. In this case, we consider an employment dispute arising under G. L. c. 149, 148 and 150 (Wage Act), between the defendant, Townsend Oil Company, Incorporated (Townsend), a home heating oil company, and the plaintiffs, Charles Edward Crocker (Crocker) and Joseph Barrasso (Barrasso), two former delivery truck drivers. The plaintiffs contend that they are owed compensation (including overtime pay) based on their proper classification as "employees" (rather than independent...
RESCRIPT OPINION The petitioner, Valentina P. Gorbatova, filed a petition in the county court seeking an investigation into alleged misconduct of an assistant clerk of the court and a determination that he violated his obligations under the Code of Professional Responsibility for Clerks of the Courts. See S.J.C. Rule 3:12, as amended, 427 Mass. 1322 (1998). A single justice ordered that the petition be dismissed on the ground that there is no right to bring a private action in court to obtain...
LENK, J. A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant of murder in the first degree on a theory of deliberate premeditation, and of two firearms offenses. On appeal, the defendant claims error in a number of respects. Because we conclude that certain pivotal evidentiary rulings implicating identification were erroneous and not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt, a new trial is required. Introduction. The essential facts surrounding the shooting death of Herman Taylor are not in dispute....
DUFFLY, J. The named plaintiffs, African-American and Hispanic police officers employed by municipalities throughout the Commonwealth who are subject to the civil service law, G. L. c. 31, brought suit in the Superior Court on behalf of themselves and a class of similarly situated individuals against the defendants, the Commonwealth and the division of human resources (division). The plaintiffs alleged that the division engaged in racial discrimination through the creation, design, and...
DUFFLY, J. After a mistrial at which the jury were deadlocked, the defendant was retried and convicted of two indictments charging murder in the first degree on a theory of deliberate premeditation. 1 On appeal, the defendant claims that his motion to dismiss the indictments, filed before retrial, should have been allowed because the Commonwealth had not presented legally sufficient evidence at his first trial; a second trial in these circumstances, he contends, violated constitutional and...
DUFFLY, J. The petitioners, attorneys who are licensed to practice law in the Commonwealth, challenge the validity of two aspects of the Commonwealth's workers' compensation system. They claim first that G. L. c. 152, 7C, which authorizes the senior judge (senior judge) of the Department of Industrial Accidents (department) to suspend the right of an attorney to "practice or appear before the department," violates the separation of powers explicitly provided for under art. 30 of the...
RESCRIPT The trustee of a trust established by Carol Vollmer (settlor) commenced this action in the Probate and Family Court, seeking reformation of the trust to comply with certain provisions of the Internal Revenue Code. A judge in that court reported the case to the Appeals Court, and we granted the trustee's application for direct appellate review. We conclude that the trust should be reformed as requested. The facts are not in dispute. The settlor established the trust in 1993. The trust...
IRELAND, C.J. On May 19, 2009, a jury convicted the defendant, Jose Delacruz, of murder in the first degree on the theories of deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty, and of possession of a firearm without a license, in violation of G. L. c. 269, 10 ( a ). Represented by new counsel on appeal, the defendant argues (1) that he was deprived of his counsel of choice resulting in a violation of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution; (2) error in the denial of...
SPINA, J. Ernest B. Murphy was employed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a Superior Court judge for approximately eight years. Following the publication of libelous articles in the Boston Herald newspaper about Judge Murphy's performance of his judicial duties, and his subsequent receipt of hate mail and death threats, Judge Murphy was diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), major depressive disorder, and various physical ailments brought on by his emotional distress....
DUFFLY, J. A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant of armed robbery and murder in the first degree on a theory of felony-murder in the shooting death of Luis Daniel Rodriguez. On appeal, the defendant claims error in the admission in evidence of statements he made to police following his arrest on unrelated charges; statements made by his codefendant admitted through testimony of the codefendant's sister; grand jury testimony by the codefendant's sister, admitted substantively; and...
DUFFLY, J. On the morning of June 11, 2005, the body of Lourdes Hernandez was discovered inside the retail gasoline station and convenience store (mini-mart) where she was employed as a cashier. Hernandez had been stabbed multiple times, and approximately $2,300 was missing from the store. The defendant, who months earlier had been fired from his job at the mini-mart, was convicted of murder in the first degree, G. L. c. 265, 1, on theories of felony-murder and extreme atrocity or cruelty,...
CORDY, J. In this case we conclude that although holding judges accountable for acts of bias in contravention of the Code of Judicial Conduct is essential, it must be accomplished without violating the protection afforded the deliberative processes of judges fundamental to ensuring that they may act without fear or favor in exercising their constitutional responsibility to be both impartial and independent. In so concluding, we formally recognize a judicial deliberative privilege that guards...
DUFFLY, J. On November 19, 1985, Patricia Clark was discovered stabbed to death in her Lowell home. At the time of the killing, the police investigation focused on the defendant, a former boy friend; Clark had ended their relationship earlier that year. Investigators interviewed the defendant and searched his automobile, but the case proceeded no further. In 2005, after reviewing photographs of items that had been found in the defendant's vehicle twenty years earlier, Clark's daughter provided...
SPINA, J. This case raises the question whether a subcontractor providing labor or materials to a public construction project for which a payment bond has been obtained by the general contractor pursuant to G. L. c. 149, 29, may by private agreement forgo its right to pursue payment under the bond. In 2004 and early 2005, the plaintiff, John J. Costa, doing business as Costa & Son Construction (Costa or subcontractor), performed site work for the defendant Brait Builders Corporation (Brait...
SPINA, J. In Commonwealth v. Blache, 450 Mass. 583 , 589 (2008), we held that where the Commonwealth relies on evidence that a rape victim was incapable of consent to establish the element of lack of consent and thereby reduce the degree of required force to that which is needed to effect penetration, "the Commonwealth should also prove the defendant's knowledge of the complainant's incapacitated state." Today we hold that a defendant in such a case is entitled to have the jury instructed...
SPINA, J. A jury in the Superior Court convicted the defendant, Marion Szlachta, of murder in the first degree on a theory of extreme atrocity or cruelty for the beating death of his housemate, Randy Lee Maleski, on July 8, 2008. 1 At trial, the defendant conceded his guilt of murder, challenging only whether he was guilty of murder in the first degree or in the second degree. He sought a verdict of murder in the second degree on the ground that his impaired mental condition affected his...
SPINA, J. Following internal upheaval in a gang, five gang members and a nonmember associate executed a sixth member. Two other members 2 testified against the others pursuant to cooperation agreements with the Commonwealth. Scott Davenport (Davenport), the nonmember who also killed the victim, testified that he acted under duress. Following a joint trial of four defendants, the jury found all defendants guilty of murder in the first degree, as well as other crimes. 3 On appeal, Davenport...
IRELAND, C.J. We granted the Commonwealth's application for direct appellate review to determine whether a transfer hearing pursuant to G. L. c. 119, 72A ( 72A), must be held before the Commonwealth may seek an indictment pursuant to G. L. c. 119, 54 ( 54), against a defendant who is alleged to have committed offenses when he was between fourteen and seventeen years of age, but was not apprehended until after his eighteenth birthday. Because we conclude that the clear language of...
CORDY, J. Pursuant to S.J.C. Rule 3:10, 1 (g), as amended, 416 Mass. 1306 (1993), a judge in the Superior Court found that the defendant, Thomas J. Mortimer, IV, was indigent but able to contribute $40,000 to his defense against indictments charging him with the murders of his wife, mother-in-law, and two children. In setting the amount of the defendant's required contribution, the judge considered various assets that the defendant had reported to the probation department, including bank...
IRELAND, C.J. In December, 2009, a Middlesex County grand jury returned two indictments charging the defendant with trafficking in cocaine, in violation of G. L. c. 94C, 32E ( b ) (1), and conspiracy to violate the drug laws, in violation of G. L. c. 94C, 40. 2 On January 29, 2010, the defendant was arraigned, at which time he filed an affidavit of indigency, see G. L. c. 261, 27B, was appointed counsel, and tendered pleas of not guilty to the charges. Subsequently, during proceedings...
