The state’s highest court unanimously extended the existing legal principle that a letter writer loses privacy rights by dropping it in the mail just like someone hitting send on their phone.
The case asks Massachusetts justices to balance family values, constitutional rights and a confusing new law.
Plexiglas shields the courtroom witness stand in the Southern District of New York’s Daniel Moynihan Courthouse part of a remodel with public health in mind for reopening the courthouse during the coronavirus pandemic. (Courthouse News photo/Adam Klasfeld)
BOSTON (CN) The Massachusetts Supreme Court struggled Friday to figure out when a parent can be called to testify if their child is accused of a crime.
Three years ago Massachusetts became the fifth state in the country to adopt a rule that parents don’t have to testify against their minor children. But prosecutors are now trying to turn the law around and use it against juvenile defendants, by saying the law prohibits
An inmates stands in a cell inside one of Massachusetts county jails. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
With zero coronavirus cases now reported in Massachusetts prisons, the state s highest court is reviewing whether the virus should still be considered when a prisoner requests release.
The SJC heard arguments Wednesday in a case that asks whether a judge should take into account if a prisoner has had COVID-19 or has been vaccinated.
The case involves 59-year-old William McDermott, who is seeking a stay of his sentence. He s been in prison since his 1982 conviction on murder charges.
Other court rulings suggest that because McDermott had COVID, and has been vaccinated, judges do not have to consider the virus in reviewing requests for a stay of sentence. But McDermott s attorney Hayne Barnwell said there is still uncertainty about the long term benefits of the vaccine and the risks to clients like hers who have underlying health issues.
Man convicted for 2014 Dot murder gets new trial dotnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dotnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
In this file photo from 2014, Ian Jaffier holds a picture of his daughter, Dawnn Jaffier, 26, who was fatally shot on Blue Hill Avenue that year. (Matthew J. Lee/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
The state s highest court ruled Monday that one of two men convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of an innocent bystander during a confrontation in Dorchester should get a new trial.
Wesson Colas was convicted in the killing of 26-year-old youth worker Dawnn Jaffier, and the non-fatal shooting of another woman, near Dorchester s J ouvert Parade, a Caribbean festival, in 2014.
Though Colas didn t fire a shot, prosecutors said he was equally responsible as the gunman, Keith Williams, because Colas pointed a weapon at the rival with the intent to kill and therefore participated in the gun battle. Williams was also sentenced to life in prison for first-degree murder.