The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that the state wiretap law bars Suffolk County prosecutors from using video recorded by an undercover cop buying drugs from an alleged dealer in East Boston and Brighton because the cop didn't get a warrant first. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today overturned the convictions of a man for a murder on Deering Road in Mattapan in which he drove the killer - who has never been found or publicly identified - to and from the scene. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that a Cambridge clerk-magistrate can hold public hearings on whether to bring charges against a couple dozen alleged clients of a ring that flew in prostitutes from Los Angeles and Las Vegas to render sexual services in high-end Cambridge and Watertown apartments turned into brothels. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today broke with earlier case law and declared that engagement rings have to be returned on request in the event of a pre-marriage breakup regardless of who might be at fault in the parting of ways. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court concluded today a criminal attorney inappropriately made a sexist fool of himself in the Chelsea District Court lockup and needs to go through his career with a formal reprimand on his record. Read more.
A Boston ride-share driver will remain behind bars as a possible threat to society as he awaits trial on charges he raped at least eight women passengers over several years, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today reinstated the first-degree murder conviction for the man who sliced open Cristian Giambrone's neck outside the Longwood Medical Area CVS in 2004, which means he will spend the rest of his life in prison without a chance at parole. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld the dismissal of gun charges against a Dorchester man whom police say they watched showing off guns on Snapchat via a bogus Snapchat ID because both police and the Suffolk County District Attorney's office refused a lower-court order to turn over information about all the fake IDs they used to monitor suspected gang members in Snapchat videos around the time he was arrested - twice - in 2018. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today agreed one of three men convicted for the murder of a Dudley Square cobbler trying to protect his son from them on Dec. 10, 1974, deserves a new trial because of questions about eyewitness testimony and the failure of Suffolk County prosecutors to turn over evidence that might have bolstered his claim of innocence. Read more.
Supreme Judicial Court Chief Justice Kimberly Budd today swore in Maura Looney as the SJC's Clerk for the Commonwealth, replacing Francis Kenneally, who was appointed a judge in the district-court system earlier this year. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today thew out a state law barring people from going out in public with a switchblade, concluding the knives are "arms" under the Second Amendment and that means people can legally pack them for self protection. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court yesterday overturned Julio Baez's first-degree murder sentence, saying prosecutors failed to provide evidence that Baez knew the men who actually did gun down Ryan Morrissey on Main Street in Charlestown in 2014 were planning to shoot him. Read more.
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the first same-sex marriages in Massachusetts, under the Goodridge decision by the state Supreme Judicial Court. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court ruled today that Leon Robinson got a fair trial on charges he gunned down Recardo Robinson in Robinson's Commonwealth Avenue barbershop during an argument in 2001, which means Robinson will spend the rest of his life in prison. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today gave prosecutors permission to use results of alcohol tests on blood drawn from a man charged with killing another driver while driving with a blood-alcohol content that tested four times the legal limit. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today upheld a Brookline ordinance that permanently bars the sale of cigarettes to anybody born in the 21st century. Read more.
Suffolk County prosecutors who plan to use cell-tower data to place a suspect in a 2015 Dorchester home invasion, murder, shooting and arson at the scene of the crime won't be able to use data from the man's phone that seems to also place him at the location, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled today. Read more.
Update: Some 70 people convicted in Suffolk County could have their sentences changed to add the possibility of parole based on the rulings, the Suffolk County DA's office reports.
The Supreme Judicial Court today extended a ban on automatic parole-less life sentences for teens convicted of first-degree murder to people as old as 20. Read more.
The Supreme Judicial Court today ordered a new trial for a man convicted of gunning down Marcus Hall behind a Blue Hill Avenue barbershop, where Hall had brought his four-year-old son for a haircut on June 14, 2016. Read more.
WBUR talks to Hillary Goodridge on the 20th anniversary of the release of the ruling in Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health, the Supreme Judicial Court decision that was the first to legalize same-sex marriage anywhere in the US.
Read the decision, which begins: Read more.
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