Commonwealth v. McWilliams

In this case, we address the question left open in Commonwealth v. Fortunato, 466 Mass. 500, 509 (2013): whether voluntary, unsolicited statements that are not the product of police questioning, made more than six hours after arrest, must be suppressed under the safe harbor rule established in Commonwealth v. Rosario, 422 Mass. 48, 56-57 (1996). Robert McWilliams, the defendant, was convicted of robbery while armed and masked, occurring on July 7, 2011; and of attempted robbery, occurring on July 26, 2011. On appeal, he argues that the judge erred by (1) denying his motion for a required…