Massachusetts Appeals Court
Sloppy thieves rejoice: Leaving an ID behind at a burglary not enough for a conviction
By adamg - 2/7/12 - 12:26 pmThe Massachusetts Appeals Court today reversed a Falmouth man's conviction for breaking and entering, saying the fact that a taped up ID card in his name was found at the scene was not enough to find him guilty.
The court said prosecutors failed to provide any other real evidence beyond the presence of the card that Ronald Renaud was responsible for the theft of four plasma TVs, a DVD player and sports memorabilia and that without that, they failed to show the man actually burgled the house:
Court blocks sterilization of mentally ill pregnant woman, but says family has right to make case to force an abortion
By adamg - 1/17/12 - 6:17 pmThe Massachusetts Appeals Court today overturned a lower-court judge who had ordered a woman with severe mental problems to be sterilized as part of an abortion the judge had agreed with her family to make her have over her objections.
Court: If you steal somebody's gun, then accidentally shoot yourself and die, your survivors aren't entitled to a cent
By adamg - 1/6/12 - 11:47 amThe Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today a gun owner was not liable for the death of a man who stole one of his guns then died when the gun went off as he was putting it back at his sister's insistence.
Court: You can't just run over a mother duck and get away with it
By adamg - 11/15/11 - 6:18 pmThe Massachusetts Appeals Court today reinstated a man's conviction of cruelty to animals for squashing a mother duck leading her ducklings across a mall parking lot in Dartmouth in June, 2009.
Court: Real-estate brokers can be held legally responsible for what they tell buyers
By adamg - 11/9/11 - 12:56 pmA divided Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today a man who bought a Norwell house in part because the broker told him it was zoned for use as the hair salon he wanted to open should get a trial to try to persuade a jury he deserves damages because it turns out the house wasn't zoned for that use.
Daniel DeWolfe bought a two-family house on Washington Street in Norwell that had been advertised by its listing brokerage, Hingham Centre, Ltd., as zoned "Business B," which a broker told him meant it was suitable for a salon. The property's MLS listing also said it was zoned that way, and the broker gave him a copy of part of the town zoning code allowing salons with "Business B" handwritten at the top.
In fact, the property was zoned "Residential B," which does not allow salons, and something DeWolfe did not learn until after he had gotten both a permit for a new septic system and a building permit to install his salon on the first floor.
Court to former state rep: Nice try, but no, you're not going to get a pension increase because you had a state parking space
By adamg - 11/3/11 - 10:01 amThe Massachusetts Court of Appeals today rejected former state Rep. Marie Parente's bid to have her pension increased based on the estimated value of her state-provided parking space on Beacon Hill and her per-diem payments for traveling to and from her home in Milford.
Court upholds gun seizure from man witness claimed was a hired killer
By adamg - 10/3/11 - 9:52 amThe Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today Chelsea Police acted properly when they went into an apartment and seized a loaded gun after getting a call its owner had shown off his gun and announced he'd been hired to kill somebody with it.
A Chelsea District Court judge had tossed the gun as evidence against Vladimir Samuel, ruling that while police had permission from an occupant of the apartment to enter, lifting the pillow under which a caller said Samuel had placed the gun would have required a search warrant - because the occupant did not give them specific permission to peek under the pillow.
Nice try, pal, but you're still guilty of stomping a pregnant woman
By adamg - 9/29/11 - 10:57 amThe Massachusetts Court of Appeals today upheld a judge's sentence against a man convicted of repeatedly punching and kicking a pregnant supermarket worker who tried to stop him from shoplifting - a longer sentence that was imposed after he refused to accept probation as a condition of his original, shorter term behind bars.
Gene A. Jackson was convicted for a 2009 incident at the Porter Square Shaw's, involving a loss-prevention officer who followed him out of the store:
Court rules nautical cliches not always true
By adamg - 9/26/11 - 10:32 amThe Massachusetts Appeals Court today began a ruling on an insurance issue involved in a 2005 collision off Quincy between a Boston Harbor Cruises ferry and two disabled boats like this:
Sometimes ships do not pass in the night.
Court overturns damages against landlord who tried to get tenants fired
By adamg - 9/26/11 - 10:15 amThe Massachusetts Appeals Court ruled today that Housing Court is the wrong place to consider a complaint by two Roxbury tenants that their landlord reacted to a rent dispute by badmouthing them to congregants at the church where they work as custodians - and by trying to get them fired by strewing trash on the church floors to make it seem like they weren't doing their jobs.
