Commonwealth v. Smith

In 2005, the defendant was indicted for murder in the first degree for the stabbing death of Thomas Morgado (the victim). Based on certain specific grounds, he moved to suppress secretly recorded conversations in which he admitted to having killed the victim, as well as all evidence derived from those conversations. After that motion was denied, the defendant pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree. Almost nine years later, the defendant filed a motion for new trial through which he sought to withdraw his guilty plea. He claimed that his counsel was constitutionally ineffective for…