Commonwealth v. McCants

The defendant was convicted of rape and armed robbery in November, 1974.2 These judgments were affirmed on appeal in Commonwealth v. McCants, 3 Mass. App. Ct. 596 (1975). Approximately forty years later, the defendant filed a motion for a new trial. A judge denied the defendant's motion without a hearing, reasoning that the defendant failed "to present a credible and adequate showing of any serious or substantial issue with these decades-old convictions for sexual and other crimes." We affirm.

Discussion. Standard of review. We review a judge's decision to deny a motion for a new trial "to…