Articles Posted in Massachusetts Criminal Decisions

The SJC vacated a murder conviction because jurors heard gunshot residue particle counts from negative tests. What the Commonwealth must prove first.

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center October 16, 2026 On September 24, 2026, the Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld the convictions of a man who pursued a woman he met in high school for about fifteen years, violated the harassment prevention order she obtained against him, and threatened her family in emails sent…

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center October 16, 2026 On September 30, 2026, the Massachusetts Appeals Court ordered the dismissal of gun charges against a juvenile whom Boston police had frisked after a 911 call reporting “three guys with guns” in a Dorchester backyard. The police ordered the juvenile out of a…

In Piper P. v. Barron B., the SJC affirmed denial of expungement after a fourth grader’s 258E order ended. The update examines the facts and separate opinions.

The SJC upheld a conviction for secretly photographing a nude person and held that dissemination under § 105(c) requires sending the image to a third party.

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center September 28, 2026 Shortly before 2 A.M., a Cambridge police officer walking through Harvard Square saw Shyam Khadgi striking a woman in the face and arms. The officer saw Khadgi strike her ten to fifteen times, hard enough to lift his own foot off the ground.…

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center September 28, 2026 At about 1 A.M. on September 2, 2024, Boston police officers on patrol in Dorchester saw that the registration on an Acura sport utility vehicle had expired. The officers confirmed through their database that the registration was expired and non-renewable, activated their lights,…

By Attorney Joe Serpa | Georgetown University Law Center September 23, 2026 The Holyoke police chief denied Randy Westbrook a license to carry a firearm, pointing to charges filed more than a decade earlier that never led to a conviction. Westbrook asked a court to overturn the denial. The Supreme Judicial Court has now agreed…

Medical experts can help a Massachusetts jury understand how an injury occurred and whether the medical findings support the prosecution’s account. The judge must first decide whether the opinion is reliable and whether its wording risks unfairly influencing the jury’s decision about guilt. On September 9, 2026, the Supreme Judicial Court addressed both questions in…

Police misconduct sometimes comes to light years after a defendant has pleaded guilty. When that happens, the defendant may ask the court to withdraw the plea. Success depends on connecting the misconduct to that specific case, not merely showing that it occurred somewhere in the investigation. On August 31, 2026, the Supreme Judicial Court applied…