Bates v. Commonwealth

Thomas Bates was convicted in 1991 on numerous indictments charging rape of a child, indecent assault and battery on a child under fourteen years of age, indecent assault and battery on a person fourteen years of age or older, soliciting a child to pose in a state of sexual conduct, and soliciting a child to pose in a state of nudity. The Appeals Court affirmed all but three of his convictions and also affirmed the denial of his motion for a new trial. Com*1020monwealth v. Bates, 37 Mass. App. Ct. 1114 (1994). In 1999, he filed a petition in the county court pursuant to G. L. c. 211, § 3, raising…