Commonwealth v. Smith

The defendant was convicted on numerous charges of sexual abuse of his daughter who was nine or ten at the time of the offenses.1 In his appeal from his convictions and from the denial of his motion for a new trial, he argues, among other things, as he did below, that his attorney was ineffective in a number of respects, particularly in not objecting to certain hearsay statements repeating the claims of sexual abuse. We reverse the defendant’s convictions.

In September, 1986, the complainant, who is the defendant’s daughter, moved with her brother into the defendant’s home. *552Although at first…