SJC

Court to Governor's Council: Don't pester us with idle, hypothetical questions

adamg — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:01:41 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court today refused to answer a question from the Governor's Council on whether the council could order people before it for judicial nominations to tell the truth.

In an "answer" to the council, an obscure elected board that dates to colonial days that gets to grill prospective judges, the state's highest court said the council failed to prove the issue had actually come up, that the five members who signed the question failed to show they had consulted the three other members about asking the court about the matter and that the council really should get to know Attorney General Martha Coakley, whose office is full of lawyers versed in constitutional issues.

The court said the separation of powers enumerated in the state constitution requires justices to tread very lightly on issues of how the executive branch of government runs its affairs and to consider such affairs only on serious matters arising from "solemn" instances:

Them's fightin' words, and them's not protected under the First Amendment, court rules

adamg — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:22:21 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld a state law that lets somebody take out a "harassment order" against a person who utters "fighting words" or "true threats."

A law passed in 2010 extended some of the protections accorded victims of domestic abuse to people feeling abused by people not in their immediate family, if they could show three examples of harassment.

One of its first applications came not long after in Northampton, where a police officer got one of the new orders against a long-standing acquaintance who seemed to have a grudge against him; the man appealed, saying he had a First Amendment right to flip the officer off and to blare his horn outside the cop's house.

Court: Judges have the right to reduce plea-bargained sentences in certain circumstances

adamg — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:21:10 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld rulings from lower-court judges that gave two defendants less severe sentences than they had themselves agreed to.

In a 2010 case in Brighton District Court, Judge David Weingarten reduced Marcos Rodriguez's 2 1/2-year sentence for drug possession with intent to distribute to 1 year after he realized Rodriguez had agreed to plead guilty to possession of one type of drug when he was actually guilty of possession of another type of drug that carried less severe potential penalties.

Court: State can't cut legal immigrants off from state health insurance just to save money

adamg — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:24:55 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court today overturned a law that prohibits certain legal immigrants from obtaining subsidized insurance from the state's Commonwealth Care program.

The court said saving money was the main rationale behind a law passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Patrick limiting the number of immigrants who could sign up for Commonwealth Care - and saving money is not a good enough reason under the state constitution for "invidious discrimination against aliens."

Court: Lenders can't sell off property they don't have proper title to

adamg — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:43:39 +0000

For the second time this year, the Supreme Judicial Court has ruled against a bank that tried to sell off property it did not yet own the title to.

The state's highest court said that U.S. Bank improperly deeded a house to a buyer when it had not yet properly foreclosed on the previous owner. The ruling is yet another strike against lenders seeking shortcuts to dispose of property in Massachusetts - but also a potential issue for people who bought foreclosed property in recent years.

Court: Being related to mobsters not good enough reason to be given a pass on testifying in fraud case

adamg — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 15:01:53 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court today rejected a plea from two women who pleaded guilty to their role in an auto-repair scheme that they not be forced to testify against the two men allegedly at the center of the case.

Court sticks to its guns, once again upholds state firearm licensing laws

adamg — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:34:35 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today nothing the Supreme Court has said invalidates the state's requirements for gun permits, so people can't just go out and buy guns willy-nilly.

Court: Forcing securities companies to register with the state not a violation of the First Amendment

adamg — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:20:21 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld a fine levied against a New Jersey company that e-mailed a prospectus to a Massachusetts resident even though it hadn't registered with the Secretary of State's office.

Bulldog Investors argued this violated its First Amendment right to free speech.

Court upholds fees for appealing traffic tickets

adamg — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 14:54:47 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today there is nothing unconstitutional about requiring people to pay a fee to appeal a traffic ticket.

Ralph Sullivan, who wanted to get back the $75 in fees he spent successfully appealing a traffic ticket from Salem, argued the fees violate the Constitution's right to equal protection because people appealing tickets for smoking or carrying marijuana are not levied fees.

But the state's highest court ruled that traffic appeals are not the same as smoking or pot appeals, so that principle does not apply. People contesting traffic tickets can subpoena witnesses, ask for a hearing before a judge or clerk-magistrate and can appeal their verdicts to another judge, while people appealing other types of tickets can do none of that, the court said.

Court: Guy may be a disgusting perv, but that doesn't mean he's dangerous

adamg — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 15:13:42 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today authorities can't keep a serial North Shore exhibitionist locked up past the end of his sentence because there's no proof his behaviors trend toward the "sexually dangerous."

Court rejects stranger-in-strange-land argument; upholds multiple life sentences in notorious Chinatown mass murder

adamg — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:17:12 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the five life sentences given to Nam The Tham and Siny Van Tran for the execution-style murders of five men in a Tyler Street gambling parlor in 1991.

The two fled to China, but were eventually found and extradited back from Hong Kong. A jury found them guilty in a joint trial in 2001. A third shooter remains at large to this day.

The court ruled the two got a fair trial, any statements made in error would not have affected the outcome and that it was just too bad and their own fault they decided on a joint trial rather than trying to rat each other out in separate trials. They also rejected one of the men's arguments that he made incriminating statements because he came from a dictatorship where staying alive in custody requires telling authorities what they want to hear.

According to the court decision, the two entered the club around 2 a.m. on Jan. 12, 1991 and shot six men in the head. Five died immediately; one fell unconscious but came to a couple hours later:

Court extends protection of law against stupid evictions to tenants getting evicted before law was passed

adamg — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:26:56 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that a 2010 law aimed at protecting tenants of foreclosed apartments against evictions "without just cause" also applies to tenants who were in the process of being evicted before the law went into effect, but who never left their units.

Court: Couple entitled to refund, damages for post-9/11 cruise they never took

adamg — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 15:13:07 +0000

For the second time, a Massachusetts court has ruled Norwegian Cruise Lines has to reimburse a couple who tried to reschedule a cruise the week after 9/11 only to be told that they not only couldn't do that, they wouldn't get their money back.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today the cruise line engaged in deceptive practices because it never told Mark and Tara Casavant about a secret, unpublished clause it had that only allowed for refunds based on complaints about specific conditions in the contract the couple signed when they bought their tickets.

Court rules Nantucket no place for a murder trial

adamg — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:55:26 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court today ordered a new trial for Thomas E. Toolan III, a New Yorker convicted on Nantucket in 2007 of stabbing to death a longtime Nantucket visitor who had broken off their relationship.

Court: Sex offenders can't be tossed out of nursing homes without a hearing

adamg — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:54:21 +0000

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today police cannot pull convicted sex offenders out of nursing or rest homes without giving them a chance to make their case to stay there.

The ruling comes in the case of an elderly Boston man, identified only as John Doe, whom Boston Police sought to have evicted from an unnamed rest home because of his status as a "Level 3" or high-risk sex offender, for acts committed against two children in 1992.

The state's highest court said, however, that because the law would deprive the man of certain rights - such as his right to move about the state freely under the state constitution - it violates his fundamental right to due process by not letting him try to make the case that he would not pose a threat: