Commonwealth v. Kater

Spina, I.

This is the seventh appeal in the Commonwealth’s prosecution of James M. Kater (Kater) for the kidnapping and murder of Mary Lou Arruda, which began with his indictment on November 28, 1978. In 1979, a jury found him guilty of kidnapping and murder in the first degree. We reversed that conviction because certain testimony that had been or might have been hypnotically aided was erroneously admitted. Commonwealth v. Kater, 388 Mass. 519 (1983) (Kater I). Two years later, prior to a retrial, we reversed an order denying the defendant’s motion to suppress hypnotically aided testimony and…