Justia Constitutional Law Opinion Summaries

After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of murder in the first degree. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the convictions and the trial court’s denial of Defendant’s motion for a new trial and declined to reduce the degree of guilt pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278, 33E, holding (1) there was sufficient evidence to sustain Defendant’s conviction; (2) Defendant suffered no prejudice as a result of the Commonwealth’s failure to disclose certain evidence; (3) there was no error due to the Commonwealth’s exclusion of third-party culprit evidence; (4) the judge judge did not abuse her discretion in denying Defendant’s motion to exclude hearsay statements by the victim’s girl friend; (5) the prosecutor did not engage in impermissible misconduct; (6) defense counsel’s performance was not constitutionally deficient; and (7) Defendant failed to establish that a new trial was required because the prosecutor had represented him on several previous occasions. View "Commonwealth v. Watkins" on Justia Law

In 1995, Randall Trapp and four other inmates, who were adherents of Native American religious practices, filed a complaint asserting that the Department of Correction (DOC) had violated their rights to exercise their religion. In 2003, the parties entered into a settlement agreement requiring the DOC to construct a purification lodge at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center (SBCC). Within six months of building the SBCC lodge, the DOC halted all ceremonies, citing health concerns that resulted from smoke filtering into the main building from wood fires at the lodge. In 2010, Trapp and Robert Ferreira filed an amended complaint against the Commissioner of Correction and two DOC employees at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Norfolk, alleging that the lodge’s closure violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (RLUIPA), article 2 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, and the 2003 settlement agreement. A superior court judge entered a declaratory judgment in favor of Plaintiffs on all three claims. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding that the closure of the SBCC lodge violated RLUIPA and the settlement agreement. View "Trapp v. Roden" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree on the theory of extreme atrocity or cruelty. While his appeal was pending, Defendant filed a motion for a new trial. The motion was denied. Defendant’s appeal from the denial of the motion was consolidated with his direct appeal. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction and the denial of his motion for a new trial, holding (1) the prosecutor at times crossed over the line of propriety in his conduct at trial, including in his cross-examination of Defendant and in his closing argument, but the errors did not create a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice; and (2) there was no reason to reduce the verdict or to order a new trial. View "Commonwealth v. Cadet" on Justia Law