What happens when a sentencing judge makes a legal error that benefits the defendant, and the error goes unnoticed for almost one year?  In Commonwealth v. Selavka, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled last week that too much time had passed for the sentencing judge to fix the mistake, and the defendant was entitled to...

The Supreme Judicial Court issued an important decision this week regarding the requirement that certain sex offenders on probation be monitored by a GPS device.  The opinion was delivered in Commonwealth v. Guzman (SJC-11483 decided August 25, 2014). (more…)

Ronald Garney was a ninth-grade science teacher and coach who worked for the Amherst-Pelham regional school district for more than 20 years.  Through an investigation conducted in 2004, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement identified Garney as someone who had purchased child pornography from a website.  Local police later executed a search warrant...

The Massachusetts Legislature amended the law in 2010 regarding the rights of former defendants who wanted to seal their criminal records.  On Friday, the Supreme Judicial Court issued a very important ruling clarifying the standard defendants must meet to have their criminal records sealed.  Click on Commonwealth v. Pon to read the opinion. (more…)

Appellate courts in Massachusetts constantly grapple with the question of how much circumstantial evidence against an alleged drug dealer is enough to justify a search.  The Supreme Judicial Court’s latest ruling arrived last week in Commonwealth v. Paul Stewart (SJC-11475, decided August 7, 2014). (more…)