Commonwealth v. Thayer

The defendant was convicted of unarmed robbery by a jury in the Superior Court. On appeal, he argues that a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice occurred when his photograph was presented to the jury without proper sanitizing and when the judge directed the jury to return to their deliberations without their consent after they supposedly reported they were deadlocked for the third time. We reverse on the ground that the presentment to the jury of the defendant’s photograph which contained notations suggestive of unrelated criminal activity created a substantial risk of a miscarriage…