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Massachusetts Appeals Court Upholds Rape Conviction Based on Defendant’s Confessions in IM Chat

Posted on September 25, 2014 in
The Massachusetts Appeals Court yesterday affirmed a defendant's conviction for multiple counts of child rape that were based, in part, on the defendant's confessions during an instant messaging ("IM") chat with one of the prosecution witnesses. The name of the case is Commonwealth v. David Oppenheim. The defendant and his wife founded and operated...
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Massachusetts Appeals Court Reverses Essex County Convictions as a Result of Sleeping Juror

Posted on September 7, 2014 in
When a criminal defendant elects to have a jury trial, there is an expectation that the jurors will be attentive during the trial.  But what happens when one of the jurors appears to sleep through the evidence?  The Appeals Court considered the issue this week in Commonwealth v. Luis Gonzalez. During the deliberations, the...
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Massachusetts Appeals Court Affirms Conviction of Man Who Wore See-Through Shorts to Target Store

In an entertaining opinion delivered last week, the Massachusetts Appeals Court considered whether a man had been fairly convicted of a crime for wearing see-through shorts to a local Target store.  The Court concluded, in Commonwealth v. Coppinger, that the law was constitutional and that the prosecution had provided sufficient evidence to convict the defendant....
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The Government Can Seize Your DNA – Even if You Are Not a Defendant

Posted on August 2, 2014 in
It has long been established that the government can seize personal information from criminal defendants, from fingerprints to items (such as hair, saliva, or blood) to obtain a DNA profile.  But what happens when the government wants to obtain a DNA profile from a third party? (more…)
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Too Drunk to Confess?

The Massachusetts Appeals Court recently considered whether a defendant’s confession to the police should be suppressed because of his level of drunkenness.  In Commonwealth v. Bigley, the police responded to a motor vehicle accident.  When they arrived, the police saw a motorcycle lying in the middle of the road and on fire. (more…)
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