Commonwealth v. Wade

After a jury trial in 1997, Petitioner was convicted of murder in the first degree on a theory of felony murder. Petitioner later filed a motion in the superior court seeking postconviction testing of biological material pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278A, 3. The superior court judge denied Petitioner’s motion for scientific testing. Petitioner then filed a petition seeking leave to appeal from the denial of his motion for forensic and scientific testing. The Supreme Judicial Court reversed, holding that Petitioner demonstrated that the requested analysis had not yet been developed at the time of his conviction and therefore met the requirement to establish one of the five enumerated reasons explaining why the requested testing was not previously conducted, and therefore, the trial judge erred in denying Petitioner’s motion. View "Commonwealth v. Wade" on Justia Law