Commonwealth v. Torres

The defendant appeals from his convictions on seven counts of indecent assault and battery on a child and eight counts of rape of a child, and from the denials of his motions for a new trial and to reconsider. The defendant argues that the trial judge erred in concluding that the court room was not closed to the public, failing to sever the counts sua sponte, admitting improper first complaint testimony, and making various eviden-tiary rulings. We affirm.

Background. The jury were presented with the following evidence. The defendant was in an intermittent relationship with Sonia Nieves. They…