Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Constitutional Law - Criminal Procedure - Judicial Review - Search and Seizure

Question Presented: Whether police were justified in impounding and searching a vehicle when the driver was arrested at 4:15AM in a “high crime area” and the car’s owner could not be contacted.

Facts: Officers saw the defendants leave an after-hours party at a residential home at 4:15 AM, carry open bottles of beer into a car, and drive away. (Remarkably, parties at …

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Argument: Not yet scheduled.

Keywords: Civil Procedure - First Amendment - Judicial Review

Question Presented: Whether a civil hearing for commitment of a person found not guilty by reason of mental illness should be closed to the public to protect the defendant’s privacy.

Facts: The defendant was found not guilty by reason of mental illness of murdering her four-year-old child, and committed to a state treatment facility. Three years later, the Department of Mental …

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Argument: September 2010

Keywords: Bail - Criminal Procedure - Judicial Review

Question Presented: Whether a defendant who is released on bail with conditions by the District Court can appeal the imposition of conditions to the Superior Court, pursuant to G.L. c. 276, § 58A.

Facts: The defendant was released on bail by a judge of the District Court subject to conditions, including that he wear a GPS tracking bracelet and follow a curfew. The defendant …

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Amicus due March 15, 2010 - Argument: May 6, 2010

Keywords: Criminal Procedure - Disabilities - Judicial Review

Question Presented: Whether a witness with a speech-related disability has the right to challenge her exclusion as a witness during trial; whether the judge properly excluded her testimony for inability to give narrative answers.

Facts: The appellant is the alleged victim in the criminal trial of Kofi Agana. The alleged victim suffers from expressive aphasia, a condition that permits her to understand language, but to …

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Amicus due March 15, 2010 - Argument: May 2010

Keywords: Constitutional Law - Criminal Law - Criminal Procedure - Judicial Review - Sex Offenders

Question Presented: Whether an improper basis for imprisonment of a sex offender bars the Commonwealth from petitioning for commitment of the offender as a sexually dangerous person.

Facts: Repeat sexual offenders are subject to a mandatory sentence of community parole supervision for life (“CPSL”), a lifetime status equivalent to parole.  G.L. c. 265, § 45.  The petitioner pled …

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