Palaza v. Superior Court

The Commonwealth has conceded that in the absence of waiver or of a grant of immunity pursuant to G. L. c. 211, § 3, Palaza has a valid Fifth Amendment claim. The Commonwealth contends that Palaza waived his Fifth Amendment privilege for all future questioning about the incident by testifying before the grand jury. In the alternative, the Commonwealth argues that the single justice made a clear error of law in refusing to exercise the court’s supervisory power under G. L. c. 211, § 3, to grant immunity to Palaza. We disagree as to both contentions.

The question of Palaza’s waiver of his Fifth…