Commonwealth v. Rodriguez

In an opinion known for setting out model jury instructions for identification, the Supreme Judicial Court reversed the defendant’s 1977 conviction of rape, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and ordered a new trial. Commonwealth v. Rodriguez, 378 Mass. 296 (1979). Released on bail following the opinion, the defendant did not appear on the date set for his new trial. By the time he was apprehended in California and returned to Massachusetts seven years later, the photographic array shown to the victim immediately after the rape, and the defendant’s jacket, obtained in a search…