Commonwealth v. Fredette

The defendant appeals from his 1995 convictions, after a jury trial, on three counts of unnatural and lascivious acts. G. L. c. 272, § 35.1 We conclude that the cumulative prejudice to the defendant from defective jury procedures and the prosecutor’s improper closing argument mandates a new trial.

Background. The incidents resulting in the convictions allegedly took place from 1971 to 1973, while the defendant was the executive director of Come Alive, Inc., a group home for troubled teenagers in Worcester. The defendant was then a priest and a member of the Assumptionist Order.2 The…