Criminal Justice News

Can Race Be a Factor in Jury Selection in a Massachusetts Criminal Trial?

Published on: March 31, 2025 | by Patrick J. Murphy, Esq.

Prior to beginning a trial, it is commonplace for the prosecution and defense to go through a process that is called jury selection. During this process, each party is permitted to exercise several “peremptory challenges” to possible jurors. This means that each party may tell the judge that they would like to remove a possible juror from the pool without providing any reason or justification. There is an important provision of Massachusetts and federal law, however, that says that neither party may use a peremptory challenge because of a juror’s race.

How do courts interpret this rule? In one recent case before a Massachusetts court, the defendant was on trial for murder. During jury selection, the prosecution used a peremptory challenge to remove one juror who identified as Hispanic. The defense, however, argued that the prosecution only asked to strike this juror because of his ethnicity. The judge should have recognized, the defense argued on appeal, that the peremptory challenge was based on race and therefore against the law.

When the higher court reviewed the trial judge’s decision to allow the peremptory strike, it noted that the prosecution explained during jury selection that it did not feel the juror could be impartial during trial. The juror specifically stated that he was skeptical because the defendant did not have any members of his race in the jury pool, opining that this was unfair to the defendant. This, said the higher court, was a legitimate reason to remove the juror. Just because the juror brought up race did not mean the prosecution only wanted to strike him because of his race.

MA Governor Signs Revenge Porn Legislation Expanding the Definition of Domestic Violence

Published on: October 1, 2024 | by Patrick J. Murphy, Esq.

As technology and society continue to evolve, new types of crimes can emerge, often targeting individuals in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. One such crime is known as revenge porn. This involves the sharing or threatening to share explicit images of someone, typically obtained consensually in a private context, with the intent to harm, shame, or coerce the person involved. While the distribution of such material is done without consent, its emotional and psychological impact can be devastating. Recognizing the gravity of this issue, the Massachusetts General Assembly recently passed laws criminalizing revenge porn, which were signed into law earlier this year.

These new laws have two major effects. First, they criminalize the non-consensual sharing of sexually explicit images, closing a long-standing legal loophole that left many victims without legal recourse. Revenge porn, once merely a morally reprehensible act, is now considered a serious criminal offense under Massachusetts law. Second, the law expands the definition of domestic violence to encompass a broader range of abusive behaviors, known as coercive control. This includes non-physical acts such as intimidation, isolation, or threats, which are intended to manipulate or dominate a partner or family member. The law is detailed in its description of what constitutes coercive control, which can include anything from depriving a person of their basic needs to threatening harm to a child, pet, or family member. The scope of the law suggests it can be enforced in ways that are not yet fully foreseeable, and individuals may find themselves facing criminal charges under this broader definition.

When new laws like this are enacted, prosecutors often test the boundaries and limits of their enforcement. In many cases, these laws can be applied in overly aggressive ways, leading to prosecutions that may not have been anticipated when the law was drafted. Over time, some aspects of these laws may be found to be over broad or misapplied, but in the meantime, defendants may find themselves facing severe penalties. Those charged with domestic violence under the expanded definition of coercive control, or with the new crime of revenge porn, should take immediate action to protect their rights. Developing a strong legal strategy from the outset is crucial, especially when dealing with new and evolving legal theories. Anyone facing charges related to these crimes should seek the advice of a Massachusetts criminal defense attorney who is up to date on these laws and can navigate their complexities to prevent over prosecution.

Massachusetts Conviction Reversed After Bigoted Statements by Public Defender Reveal Personal Biases

Published on: July 16, 2023 | by Patrick J. Murphy, Esq.

Both the Massachusetts State Constitution and the United States Constitution protect criminal defendants’ right to be effectively represented by counsel during their prosecution. A convicted person who can demonstrate that their attorney was ineffective in representing them may be entitled to the reversal of a conviction, even when the defendant pleaded guilty to the charges against them. The Massachusetts Supreme Court recently reversed a man’s conviction for sex trafficking charges after it came to light that his court-appointed defense attorney had been publishing extremely bigoted statements against both the religion and the race of the defendant to social media while he was representing the defendant.

According to the facts discussed in the recently published appellate opinion, the defendant in the case was a black man who was also a practicing Muslim. The defendant was unable to afford an attorney, and was appointed a public defendant to represent him through the prosecution. While representing the defendant, his attorney chastised him for wearing a Muslim prayer cap in the courthouse, made other derogatory statements toward the man’s race and religion, and told the defendant that he would be unable to obtain a different attorney if he tried. As a result of advice given to him by his attorney, the man pleaded guilty to the crimes against him and was sentenced to over seven years in state prison for his crimes.

Several years later, it was discovered that the defendant’s attorney had been publishing bigoted and derogatory statements toward both Muslims and nonwhite people throughout his time representing clients as a court-appointed attorney. Based upon this newly discovered information, the defendant requested a new trial, arguing that the biases of his attorney prevented him from effectively representing and advising the defendant. The trial judge rejected the defendant’s motion, finding that the defendant failed to demonstrate any actual prejudice to himself based upon the attorney’s personal controversial beliefs.

Is Facial Recognition Software a Reliable form of Evidence in a Massachusetts Criminal Trial?

Published on: January 27, 2021 | by Patrick J. Murphy, Esq.

When investigating crimes in Massachusetts, law enforcement officers rely on a variety of methods. In most cases, police rely on statements from the alleged victim, physical evidence they gathered from the scene, video surveillance, and a host of other types of tactics. However, what can police officers do if no one recognized the suspect? A video is useless if there is no one to compare it to, and without a name, police may run into a dead-end.

In situations like the one described above, police may rely on newly-available facial recognition software to identify a suspect. Facial recognition software allows law enforcement officers to put a suspect’s picture into the program, and compares the photo to thousands of others in a database, looking for a match. While this may sound like it would work well in theory, in practice, facial recognition software has been responsible for several recent wrongful arrests, and an unknown number of wrongful convictions. Perhaps most concerning is the fact that facial recognition programs tend to not work as well when attempting to match Black or Asian faces.

According to a recent article by the New York Times, police wrongfully arrested a man after mistakenly believing that he committed a serious crime. According to the article, police responded to a call reporting a man stealing candy from a store. When police arrived, they found the man, who apologized and offered to pay for the items. He gave police his ID; however, when police went back to run it through their system, they realized it was a fake. The man fled, nearly hitting a police officer with his car.

Is It Possible to Get a Fair Jury Trial in Massachusetts During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Published on: September 15, 2020 | by Patrick J. Murphy, Esq.

As the COVOD-19 pandemic continues, the restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the virus remain in effect. Initially, the pandemic resulted in the near-total shutdown of the Massachusetts justice system, as all jury trials were suspended, and courts only heard emergency matters.

As the number of new cases in the area has started to drop off, courts have begun to reopen. However, many of the restrictions that were put in place to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 will remain to have an impact on the ability of the criminal justice system to function properly. There are several areas of concern related to conducting jury trials during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Sixth Amendment Right to a Fair Jury Trial

Under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, anyone charged with a crime enjoys the right to a fair trial by an impartial jury of the person’s peers. An important part of this right is the requirement that the jury is drawn from a fair cross-section of the community. While there is no magic formula to determine what a fair cross-section looks like, courts have held that states cannot pass laws or implement policies that have the effect of limiting groups of people from serving on juries.