Commonwealth v. Eden

A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant of rape and indecent assault and battery on a person over fourteen years of age. The convictions were based on evidence that the victim awakened to find the defendant, the victim's downstairs neighbor, in her bed licking her anus and vagina. On appeal, the defendant claims the judge erred when he (1) permitted the Commonwealth's criminalist to testify that saliva could have been present on genital swabs taken from the victim, even though the test she used detected none, and (2) discharged the only Hispanic juror after the evidence closed. We…