Commonwealth v. Martin

A jury in the District Court convicted the defendant, Todd Martin, of assault and battery. His principal claim on appeal is that the judge failed to allow him to impeach the complainant with two pending criminal complaints that he had sought and obtained against her, and thus develop the theme of bias. This, he contends, violated his right to confront his accuser as guaranteed by both the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and art. 12 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. The Appeals Court affirmed, ruling that the testimony of a corroborating witness effectively vitiated…