Legal Opinion
Commonwealth v. Sheehan
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Decided October 2, 2001PublishedCited by 22 opinions
1Opinion of the CourtCordy, J.
The defendant was convicted by a jury of rape of a child, his ten year old nephew, whom we shall call Steven. The Appeals Court reversed the defendant’s conviction, set aside the verdict, and remanded the case for a new trial because in a pretrial order a motion judge had improperly ruled Steven’s mental health records inadmissible at trial. In reaching its conclusion, the Appeals Court reviewed the records in question and concluded that the records contained information that could have supported the defendant’s contention that his nephew had imagined the incident. Thus, that court concluded…
2Cases cited11 opinions
- Commonwealth v. FreemanMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1967
- Commonwealth v. BohannonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1978
- Commonwealth v. BishopMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1993
- Commonwealth v. BohannonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1982
- Commonwealth v. FullerMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1996
6 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.
3Cited by22 opinions
- Bongaards v. MillenMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 2003
- Commonwealth v. VardinskiMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 2003
- Commonwealth v. OliveiraMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 2002
- Commonwealth v. PolkMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 2012
- Martin v. CommonwealthMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 2008
17 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.