The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that cities that want to tear down parks to put up schools or other buildings have to first get the approval of the state legislature.
A significant piece of the ruling consists of the justices considering how the situation in Westfield - where a school was proposed to replace a playground - differed from that of Boston's Long Wharf, where the BRA/BPDA wants to convert a large open-air shelter currently open to the public into a restaurant. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that while current field-sobriety tests were developed to gauge whether somebody is too drunk to drive, they can provide valuable information if the driver is suspected of being stoned, instead.
But, the court cautions ... Read more.
A man packing a loaded firearm in the backpack he carried when caught inside Milton High School in 2015 had his gun charges dismissed today when the Supreme Judicial Court ruled a police officer did not have enough evidence to search him and his backpack without a warrant. Read more.
A man convicted of first-degree murder for the death of a rival gang member on Burrell Street in Roxbury on Feb. 23, 2011 got a fair trial and will spend the rest of his life in prison without chance of parole, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled today. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that a man who had a criminal charge dismissed should not have been then locked up to await federal officials who wanted him deported. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that voter approval of medicinal marijuana means employers can no longer simply fire workers who test positive for THC on a drug test if they can prove they were using the drug with a doctor's prescription.
The ruling comes in the case of a woman who was consuming marijuana two to three times a week to help ease the pain of Crohn's Disease and who tested positive for marijuana administered by her new employer, for which she handed out samples in supermarkets - and which she had informed about her usage. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today ordered the reinstatement of a Boston cop the city fired for the way he used a choke hold to help restrain a man angry over a traffic incident in the North End in 2009 - in a ruling that also castigates the city for taking its sweet time to investigate the matter. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today ordered a new trial for Maurice Jones, who was convicted of repeatedly and fatally shooting Dinorris Alston as he sat in with his girlfriend in her car on Dunreath Street on April 17, 2012. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that if a Boston Police officer wants to pursue a potential assault-and-battery charge against her district commander, she needs to first file an appeal in the court where a clerk-magistrate found no probable cause for the charge. Read more.
For the seventh time, the Supreme Judicial Court declined to overturn Paul Robinson's conviction for the murders of Patrick Hughes and his nephew, also named Patrick Hughes, in the family drugstore on Tremont Street across from Mission Church on Dec. 21, 1968. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the first-degree murder convictions of Earl Fulgiam and Michael Corbin for the 2011 double murder of Billie Marie Kee and Kevin Thomas, Jr. in their apartment at 957 Hyde Park Ave.
But in its ruling, which means life without parole for the two, the state's highest court also put prosecutors and police on notice they have to be more careful in the future with how they obtain the contents of text messages and other electronic communications. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that Nicholas Colton got a fair trial and that he should spend the rest of his life in prison for the 1998 murder of Robert McDonald in a Lincoln parking lot. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today put Kaveh L. Afrasiabi on notice: The next time he files an appeal with them before a trial he's involved in is over, he better have some pretty darn good reasons, or they will impose sanctions - like not even letting him file more appeals. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that former House Speaker Thomas Finneran of Mattapan forfeited his right to a state pension when he pled guilty in 2007 to lying in federal court about his role in a state redistricting plan following the 2000 census. Read more.
A 4-3 majority on the Supreme Judicial Court today overturned convictions for possession of burglarious tools for two men who were stopped by police as they walked down train tracks in Norwood late one frigid winter night with two crowbars, gloves, a flashlight, walkie talkies and a map of a possible building with arrows and X's on it, because police failed to prove the men were going to use all that stuff to commit a break in, rather than just going for a little stroll. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today better defined just what sort of property a religious organization can claim a tax deduction on - and wildlife sanctuaries and buildings entirely rented out to non-religious groups are not included - but cafeterias and gift shops can be.
The ruling comes in an appeal by the Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette, which objected to the Attleboro board of assessors demanding $92,292.98 in taxes be paid in 2012 on 110 acres of land on which the Mass. Audubon Society has an easement, a former convent now rented to a safe house for battered women, a shrine welcome center and a shrine storage building Read more.
With the Wynn casino in Everett now under construction, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that a judge should consider whether the state Gaming Commission violated a law requiring public deliberations during its considerations on whether to award a license to Wynn or a competing proposal at Suffolk Downs. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today tossed out a man's disorderly-conduct conviction for acting up in a room in a hospital ER, even though it took several canisters of pepper stray to bring him under control, saying it would be wrong to criminalize behavior a large psych unit should be equipped to handle. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court chose today, of all days, to release its ruling in a case called Snow vs. Snow (it's attached, if you want to read a ruling in an alimony case).
H/t Jim Corbo.
Alexander Soto of Charlestown, one of three men charged with murdering Ryan Morrissey outside of a Charlestown convenience store in 2014, will also have to face charges of armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession of a loaded firearm in connection with Morrissey's death, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled. Read more.
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