Sussman v. Commonwealth

This petition for a writ of error attacks a summary judgment of criminal contempt entered in the Superi- or Court against the petitioner, an attorney with the Massachusetts Defenders Committee.1 The Commonwealth’s answer admitted all the essential facts alleged in the petition but denied the allegations that the petitioner had been unlawfully adjudged in contempt. The Commonwealth also filed a motion to dismiss the petition in so far as it contained allegations that the petitioner was not contumacious and that there was insufficient evidence to support the judge’s ruling. A single justice of…