Commonwealth v. Dion

The defendant Dion appeals from a judgment of conviction of the crime of rape of a child under the age of sixteen (G. L. c. 265, § 23), entered upon the verdict of a Middlesex jury.

At oral argument of the appeal before us, counsel for the Commonwealth said, with commendable candor, “It’s amazing we won this.” 1a

We describe the case in some detail in order to see whether the “victory” is fairly tenable upon appellate review.

It is accepted that on August 10, 1988, John Smith (pseudonyms are used throughout), then fourteen years old, told his mother that his older brother Leonard, then fifteen,…