Commonwealth v. Doe

The defendant, held in contempt of court for failure to comply with an order that he appear in a lineup sought by a Norfolk County grand jury, argues that the order violates his constitutional rights. We disagree and hold that the contempt order was lawful.

We summarize the evidence before the grand jury, presented through a detective sergeant in the Walpole police department. About 5:15 a.m. on September 13, 1989, a man assaulted a woman on Main Street in Walpole. She de scribed her attacker as a white male in his twenties, about five feet ten inches tall with short blond hair, who was…