Commonwealth v. Crayton

In this case, the Supreme Judicial Court established a new standard for the admission of in-court identifications where the eyewitness had not previously participated in an out-of-court identification procedure. After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted on two indictments of possession of child pornography. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the convictions, holding (1) under the new standard articulated today, the in-court identifications in this case could not have been admissible; (2) the trial judge erred in excluding from evidence Defendant’s denial to the police of having used library computers to view child pornography and in admitting into evidence three pornographic drawings of children found in Defendant’s possession; and (3) the admission of the in-court identifications and the trial errors resulted in unfair prejudice that required a new trial. View "Commonwealth v. Crayton" on Justia Law