Commonwealth v. Smith

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After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of attempted armed robbery and murder in the first degree on theories of extreme atrocity or cruelty and felony murder. Defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment on the murder charge. Defendant appealed, challenging the admission into evidence of his videotaped statement to the police and a statement he made while he was left alone during the police interrogation. Specifically, Defendant argued that although he initially waived his Miranda rights, he later invoked his right to remain silent and that the police did not scrupulously honor this invocation. Defendant failed to raise this claim below. The Supreme Judicial Court reversed Defendant’s convictions, holding that the police’s failure to honor Defendant’s right to terminate questioning created a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice because the statement was likely to have affected the jury’s verdict. View "Commonwealth v. Smith" on Justia Law