The Supreme Judicial Court and its Executive Committee on Massachusetts Evidence Law today announced the release of the 2010 edition of the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence. The Supreme Judicial Court recommends the use of this Guide.

          "The Guide makes the law of evidence accessible and understandable to the bench, bar, and the public," said Chief Justice Margaret H. Marshall.

          This new edition of the Guide is available on the Supreme Judicial Court, Appeals Court and Trial Court websites at www.mass.gov/courts/sjc/guide-to-evidence.

          The Official Print Edition of the 479-page 2010 edition of the Massachusetts Guide to Evidence is available for purchase from the Flaschner Judicial Institute, which is providing a complimentary copy to every judge in the Commonwealth.

          The Massachusetts Guide to Evidence assembles existing Massachusetts evidence law in an easy-to-use document organized similarly to the Federal Rules of Evidence. The Guide includes extensive explanatory notes and citations to pertinent authorities.

          The contents of the 2010 edition of the Guide were revised to reflect changes to Massachusetts evidence law that occurred between October 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009. These additions include discussion of over thirty decisions issued during 2009 by the Supreme Judicial Court, Appeals Court, and the federal courts that defined or clarified issues, including the United States Supreme Court case of Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts.

          In addition, the 2010 edition includes four entirely new sections: Unemployment Hearing Privilege (Section 526), Inadequate Police Investigation Evidence (Section 1107), Access to Third-Party Records Prior to Trial in Criminal Cases (Lampron-Dwyer protocol) (Section 1108), and View (Section 1109). The 2010 edition also includes notes on several new topics, including: Successive Complaints to the First Complaint Witness; Impounding versus Sealing; Use of Certain Prior Inconsistent Statements of Defendant in Criminal Cases; Prior Statements that Qualify as Inconsistent; and Confrontation in Criminal Cases.

          In 2006, the Supreme Judicial Court established a 17-member Advisory Committee to prepare a Massachusetts Guide to Evidence at the request of the Massachusetts Bar Association, the Boston Bar Association, and the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys.

          In 2008, the Supreme Judicial Court appointed the Executive Committee of the Advisory Committee on Massachusetts Evidence law. This committee monitors and incorporates future legal developments and is responsible for producing new editions of the Guide, including the 2010 edition. Appeals Court Judge R. Marc Kantrowitz, who chaired the Advisory Committee, chairs the Executive Committee and is the editor-in-chief of the Guide. The other members of the Executive Committee are: Hon. Peter W. Agnes (editor), Hon. David A. Lowy (editor), Appeals Court Clerk Joseph F. Stanton (reporter), Supreme Judicial Court senior attorney Barbara F. Berenson, New England Law Boston Professor Philip K. Hamilton, attorney Elizabeth N. Mulvey, and Appeals Court law clerks Sean M. Toohey and Allison Carrinski.