The Massachusetts Supreme Court decided the case of Commonwealth v. Edward Long today.  The decision lowers the burden to prove racial profiling in traffic stops.  The decision is very important because it will help eliminate racial profiling in traffic stops and move our country toward greater racial equality.

The case of Edward Long involved a young black male being stopped for not having a proper inspection sticker on the car he was in.  Once he was stopped for the traffic infraction, officers discovered he had a warrant, searched the car and found a hand gun.  Long moved to suppress the evidence of the hand gun, arguing that he was stopped based on his race in violation of the Equal Protection Clause.  During the Motion to Suppress hearing, he presented a compelling statistical case of racial disparity in traffic stops.

The motion judge denied the motion despite the overwhelming statistical evidence he presented.  The Massachusetts SJC found that the standard previously used by the Court to prove racial bias in traffic stops imposed too high a burden on defendants, making Equal Protection of the law an illusory concept.

The Tragic death of George Floyd and the protests that have followed shine a new light on two major Massachusetts Supreme Court cases involving Race and how our Constitution is going to be interpreted.

The tragic death of George Floyd involves shocking actions that are likely to result in murder charges being filed against the officers involved. As a result of this injustice, protests are taking place in major cities with a major incident of violence in Minneapolis as a police station was set on fire.

From what I have seen of the video, it does not appear that Floyd was any type of threat to the officers.  There was simply no justification for having a knee to his neck; This method of restraining someone is not taught in police trainings and other police officers have voiced their disapproval of the officers’ actions.  From what we know, the video evidence presents an overwhelming case of police brutality with no justification.

Gun crimes in Massachusetts often involve issues of whether there was a Constitutional basis for police action.  Here are some common legal issues:

1.  Was there Reasonable suspicion to stop your car;
2. if there was reasonable suspicion, was there a basis to order you from the car;

The Massachusetts Supreme Court will address the issue of when a seizure occurred in the case of Commonwealth v. Evelyn.  The Evelyn case is SJC-12808 and was argued on January 7, 2020.

This case involved a young black man running from the police while the police were investigating a shooting in the Roxbury section of Boston.  This decision will have important implication for how black males are treated by the police and what it means for the police to have reasonable suspicion.

Under the United States Constitution, the US Supreme Court has interpreted the 4^thAmendment to find that if a defendant runs, there is not seizure until the defendant submits to the authority of the police.  The United States Supreme Court announced this rule in the case of California v. Hodari D, 499 U.S. 621 (1991).  In that case, the defendant fled and the United States Supreme Court held that he was not seized until the police physically stopped him.  While running, the defendant threw cocaine from his pocket.  If there was no reasonable suspicion prior to the flight, the evidence would have been suppressed, but since the court held that the defendant was not seized until he was stopped, the court declined to suppress the evidence.  The Massachusetts SJC does not follow this rule as State Court are free to interpret their State Constitution different from how the US Supreme Court interprets the United States Constitution.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court heard oral arguments on March 3rd in the case of Commonwealth v. Edward Long, SJC-12868, that deal with the issue of disparity treatment and discriminatory enforcement of traffic laws by the Boston police.  In this case, the defense lawyer presented a compelling statistical case that race played a role in the traffic stop.  Under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment and Article 1 Section 10 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, a defendant who shows discriminatory enforcement of the laws can have the case dismissed.

What happened in the Long Case?  

The Long case involved two officers on the gang unit who were essentially profiling cars, finding minor reasons to stop the car, with the hopes of discovering further evidence that would lead to an arrest.  Two officers were involved in the stop of the defendant, Officer Rodriguez and Lopes.  The defendant was stopped for an expired inspection sticker after the officers randomly ran his plate, according to their testimony at the motion hearing.  Officer Rodriguez testified that giving traffic citation was not a primary concern of the gang unit; he testified that he gave out 5 citation out of 1000 cars that he stopped for traffic violations.  He testified a lot of arrests start out as average traffic stops.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court upheld the trial court’s decision to allow two witnesses’ identification of a robbery suspect as admissible evidence despite the lack of protocol and questions surrounding the identifications’ reliability.  The SJC alternated the procedures going forward requiring an instruction prior to the identification as in Line up identifications. The case adopting this new rule is Commonwealth v. Christian German decided November 13, 2019.

The case involved a robbery that occurred as a restaurant owner and three employees were leaving the restaurant late at night. As the women exited the restaurant, one of them got in the front seat of a waiting taxi. The other two employees waited as the owner locked the door. A man approached the three women standing outside of the restaurant, demanding their belongings. While one of the women threw her belongings on the ground, the owner ran around the corner to her vehicle to call 911. The robber then followed the other two women across the street, continuing to demand their property. Men on a nearby rooftop yelled at the robber, and the robber fired a gun in their direction and then left. When police arrived, two of the women had left in the taxi, while the owner and one employee remained to speak to police. After searching the area, officers found the suspect and detained him. One officer told the owner and employee that officers had detained a man, although they did not know if he was the robber, and that they needed witnesses to indicate whether or not he was the robber. While the officer wanted to transport the women one at a time to see the detained suspect, the women insisted that they would not go unless they stayed together and if assured that the suspect would not be able to see them.  The officer acquiesced and drove the two women to where the man was detained. Without any prompting, upon the officer pointing the police cruiser’s headlights at the suspect, both women simultaneously stated that the suspect was the robber and that they were 100% certain.

At trial, defense counsel argued that the women’s identification was improper where the women identified the man while sitting in a police cruiser together, not separate, and where the police officer did not provide adequate instructions prior to eliciting the “showup” identification. Defense counsel also argued that they should be allowed to introduce expert testimony that the witnesses’ degree of certainty of the suspect’s identity was questionable.

Like all things in the law, the answer to the question “is this a seizure?” is “it depends.”  A seizure, under criminal law, is similar to being stopped or detained.  The Massachusetts Declaration of Human Rights and the United States Constitution protect citizens from unreasonable seizures.  A seizure does not mean being arrested, but means that a person does not feel free to leave from police presence.  Courts use a “reasonable person” standard when reviewing whether a seizure occurred; basically, courts look at the situation and determine whether, under all of the circumstances, the officer has used their authority to the point that a person would feel that they are required to follow the officer’s commands.

Last week, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decided Commonwealth v. Matta.  In this case, Matta was a passenger in a car.  The car had been the subject of two phone calls from unknown sources to the Holyoke Police, who reported that someone in the car had placed a gun under the seat.  Without having a warrant to search or arrest, or even probable cause to detain, the police begin to investigate.  Responding to the call, Holyoke police department  found Matta’s car parked in an area that the Supreme Judicial Court described as being “known for violent crime, drug sales, and shootings,” and pulled in behind it, without lights or sirens.

As the officer was getting out of his patrol car, Matta got out of his. The officer observed him grab at the right side of his waistband with both hands and adjust the waistband, then walk toward some bushes away from the sidewalk.  The officer said something to the effect of “Hey come here for a second” to Matta, who made eye contact with the officer, and then began to run.  The officer chased Matta, and yelled at him to stop.  During the chase, Matta threw a bag of what was later found to be heroin over a fence, presumably so the police wouldn’t find it on him if he was caught.  Matta eventually tried to scale a fence, and was captured.