In Commonwealth v. Gordon (2025), applying Smith v. Arizona, the Supreme Judicial Court held that a substitute analyst may not testify to an opinion that depends on the truth of an absent analyst\u2019s testimonial statements. Here is what that means for forensic proof in drug cases.
Continue reading ›Bruen did not end Massachusetts firearm licensing. In 2025 the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the current resident and nonresident licensing schemes and confirmed that unlicensed carrying remains a crime. Here is what visitors, travelers, and new residents need to know.
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense On June 2, 2026, the Supreme Judicial Court decided Commonwealth v. Grimaldi, SJC-13842, and answered a question that Massachusetts sobriety checkpoint cases have raised since troopers began wearing body cameras: can the Commonwealth use bodycam recordings of a driver’s field…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense On July 9, 2026, the Supreme Judicial Court decided Commonwealth v. Watson, SJC-13850 (July 9, 2026), and held that G. L. c. 278A, the postconviction forensic and scientific analysis statute, permits digital forensic analysis of cell phones. The Commonwealth had…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense On April 15, 2026, the Supreme Judicial Court decided Commonwealth v. Arias, SJC-13816, and gave Massachusetts a rule it did not have before: when police stop a car for a traffic violation they observed earlier, the elapsed time between the…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense On November 25, 2025, the Supreme Judicial Court decided Gravito v. Commonwealth, and the rule it announced belongs to every Massachusetts defendant with a sealed record. Sealing closes your file to employers, landlords, and the public. It never closes your…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense On May 7, 2026, the Supreme Judicial Court decided Commonwealth v. Chhieng, and it matters to every noncitizen who ever resolved a Massachusetts criminal case with a plea or an admission. The court held that the immigration warning many District…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense Artificial intelligence has entered Massachusetts criminal courtrooms from two directions at once. Digital evidence offered against a defendant, a screenshot, a voice recording, a video, can now be fabricated with consumer software, which puts authenticity in play in cases where…
Continue reading ›By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center | 30 Years Massachusetts Criminal Defense Massachusetts firearms owners face two separate compliance deadlines in October 2026, and much of the confusion in circulation comes from running them together. Under 501 CMR 20.00, the regulation implementing M.G.L. c. 140, § 121C, every firearm, frame, or receiver…
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