Notice Inviting Comment
Proposed Amendment to Rule 14 and Rule 23 of the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure
NOTICE
Proposed Amendment to
Rule 14 and Rule 23 of the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure
The Supreme Judicial Court's Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure invites comments on proposed amendments to Rule 14 and Rule 23 of the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure. The proposal eliminates Rule 23 on the ground that the 2004 revision of Rule 14 has made it largely irrelevant. It incorporates what remains of Rule 23's discovery obligation into Rule 14 by expanding the definition of a statement in Rule 14(d). The proposal also updates Rule 14 in two respects to conform to case law that has created additional discovery obligations. Subsection 14(b)(2) has been expanded to include defenses raising an issue of the defendant's mental condition outside of the context of a defense of lack of mental responsibility, in line with
Commonwealth v. Ostrander, 441 Mass. 344, 352 (2004),
Commonwealth v. Contos, 435 Mass. 19 (2001) and
Commonwealth v. Diaz, 431 Mass. 822 (2000). In addition, a new subsection, Rule 14(b)(4), has been added to implement the requirement of
Commonwealth v. Adjutant, 443 Mass. 649 (2005) that imposes a discovery obligation when the defense intends to introduce evidence of the victim's specific acts of violence to support a claim that the victim was the first aggressor.
The Committee welcomes all comments pertaining to the issues raised by this proposal and will make recommendations to the Supreme Judicial Court
after reviewing the comments submitted. Comments should be directed to: The Standing Advisory Committee on the Rules of Criminal Procedure, c/o Administrative Attorney Barbara Berenson, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse,
One Pemberton Square
,
Boston, MA
02108 on or before February 12, 2010. Comments may also be sent to: barbara.berenson@sjc.state.ma.us.
Discussion and Proposed Amendments to Rule 14 and Rule 23 of the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure 