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Commonwealth v. Best

Citations

  • 410 N.E.2d 731
  • 381 Mass. 472
  • 1980 Mass. LEXIS 1297

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

  • requiring defendant to show prosecutorial delay is prejudicial to defense and “has been intentionally undertaken to gain a tactical advantage over the accused or has been incurred in reckless disregard of known risks to the putative defendant’s ability to mount a defense”
  • trial judge may reasonably control scope of cross-examination, “particularly, perhaps, when directed to showing a witness’s bias”
  • “That the case against [the defendant] was ‘circumstantial’ in some sense of that dubious term does not suggest that the proof was insufficient”
  • argument “not so much grounded on the failure to sever as on the right to cross-examine adequately”
  • \General or conclusory allegations on such issues are insufficient for the drastic remedy of dismissal\
  • convincing proof can consist of probable, if not necessary, inferences

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: Hennessey, Kaplan, Wilkins, Liacos, Abrams

Read full opinion on CourtListener

Cited by

67 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

Cites

69 cases in this archive are cited by this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

Other cases with this name

Sourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.