Cronin v. Commissioner of Probation

SELYA, Circuit Judge.

In Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610, 96 S.Ct. 2240, 49 L.Ed.2d 91 (1976), the United States Supreme Court proscribed the prosecution’s use of a defendant’s post- Miranda silence in a criminal case. See id. at 619, 96 S.Ct. 2240. This state habeas case implicates that proscription. After careful consideration, we conclude that even if the Massachusetts Appeals Court (MAC) misapplied the Doyle rule — a matter on which we take no view — any comment on the petitioner’s silence was harmless when considered in the context of the trial as a whole. Consequently, we affirm the district…