Commonwealth v. Delong, 60 Mass. App. Ct. 528 (Mass. App. Div. 2/26/2004), 00-P-1485.

Decision Date26 February 2004
Docket NumberNo. 00-P-1485.,00-P-1485.
PartiesCOMMONWEALTH <I>vs.</I> JOSEPH DELONG.
CourtMassachusetts Appellate Division

Present: MASON, BROWN, & BERRY, JJ.

Robbery. Evidence, Prior misconduct. Constitutional Law, Assistance of counsel. Practice, Criminal, Assistance of counsel.

At the trial of an indictment charging armed robbery, the judge did not err in admitting evidence pertaining to two prior robberies as tending to identify the defendant as the person who committed the robbery at issue, where the numerous similarities in the three robberies were sufficient to show a distinctive pattern or scheme; moreover, the probative value of such evidence outweighed its potential for prejudice to the defendant. [533-536] BERRY, J., dissenting.

A criminal defendant's counsel was not ineffective in failing to move to suppress evidence seized from the defendant's vehicle on the ground that the vehicle had been improperly impounded and subjected to an inventory search following his arrest, where the record demonstrated that the police properly impounded the vehicle, and therefore, a motion to suppress the fruits of the inventory search would not have been successful; likewise, counsel was not ineffective in failing to secure the presence at trial of two witnesses who could have corroborated the defendant's wife's alibi testimony, where the two witnesses' testimony did not pertain to the robbery at issue in the case, and in any case was merely cumulative of the wife's testimony. [536-538]

INDICTMENT found and returned in the Superior Court Department on March 31, 1998.

The case was tried before Elizabeth B. Donovan, J., and a motion for a new trial, filed on December 18, 2000, was heard by her.

Thomas C. Foley for the defendant.

Seema Malik Brodie, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.

MASON, J.

Following a jury trial in Superior Court, the defendant was found guilty of armed robbery of a supermarket

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1 cases
  • Commonwealth v. Henriquez
    • United States
    • Appeals Court of Massachusetts
    • 22 Junio 2012
    ...here was not unfair, and any danger of unfair prejudice was outweighed by the probative nature of the records. Commonwealth v. Delong, 60 Mass.App.Ct. 528, 535 (2004). The warrant. The defendant argues that the warrant to search 141 Plainfield Avenue was invalid because the supporting affid......

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