Commonwealth v. Joann Sliech-Brodeur, July 19, 2010
Plain View, Search and Seizure, Discovery Orders and Mass. R. Crim. P. 14(b)(2), Jury Instructions, Daubert-Lanigan Hearing, Evidentiary Rulings
The defendant was found guilty of murder in the first degree of her husband on theories of deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty. The defendant appealed her conviction by challenging a denial of her motion to suppress evidence, the scope of discovery orders granted on motion to the commonwealth concerning her defense of lack of criminal responsibility, and a number of rulings by the trial judge. The SJC stated that the defendant’s motion to suppress was properly denied but that the discovery orders violated Mass. R. Crim. P. 14(b)(2), as appearing in 442 Mass. 1518 (2004). These discovery orders resulted in prejudice to the defendant, and thus the SJC reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial.
