Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 3/24/2008
Commonwealth v. Williams
Citations
- 450 Mass. 894
- 882 N.E.2d 850
- 2008 Mass. LEXIS 197
How courts have described this case
Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.
- new trial required where prosecutor acted improperly in giving unsworn testimony and vouching for key prosecution witness
- same prosecutor improperly vouched for witness and “improperly urged the jury to do something beyond impartial fact finding”
- conviction reversed on basis of misconduct by prosecutor during closing argument, including offering corroborating testimony and interjecting personal determinations of credibility
- the phrase “put in work” “improperly urged the jury to do something beyond impartial fact finding”
- potential for prejudice occasioned by government misconduct increased where prosecution’s evidence not overwhelming
- where prosecutor referred to his own personal belief in credibility of witness, claiming that he took same route as witness and it was very route that witness testified to, thereby \amount[ing] essentially to prosecutorial verification\
Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).
Judges: Spina
Read full opinion on CourtListenerCited by
15 cases in this archive cite this case.
- Commonwealth v. ZanettiMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 2009-08-03· cited 170×
- Commonwealth v. PhillipsMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 2008-11-24· cited 44×
- Commonwealth v. TrinhMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 2011-01-31· cited 39×
- Commonwealth v. BoisMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 2016-11-10· cited 27×
- Irwin v. CommonwealthMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 2013-07-15· cited 23×
- Choy v. CommonwealthMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 2010-02-22· cited 14×
- Commonwealth v. BeltrandiMassachusetts Appeals Court· 2016-03-14· cited 10×
- Commonwealth v. DoyleMassachusetts Appeals Court· 2013-03-04· cited 7×
- Commonwealth v. GrinkleyMassachusetts Appeals Court· 2009-11-23· cited 5×
- Commonwealth v. Hoshi H.Massachusetts Appeals Court· 2008-06-09· cited 3×
- Commonwealth v. NiemicMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 2019-11-19
- Commonwealth v. TeixeiraMassachusetts Appeals Court· 2010-01-12
- Commonwealth v. BlakeMassachusetts Appeals Court· 2017-10-30
- Commonwealth v. CruzMassachusetts Appeals Court· 2018-05-09
- Commonwealth v. McLeanMassachusetts Appeals Court· 2018-10-04
Cites
30 cases in this archive are cited by this case; the 20 most cited are listed.
- Commonwealth v. LatimoreMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1979-08-07· cited 1,893×
- Commonwealth v. SantiagoMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1997-07-21· cited 142×
- Commonwealth v. EarltopMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1977-03-21· cited 128×
- Commonwealth v. CiampaMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1989-12-14· cited 124×
- Commonwealth v. CohenMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1992-04-07· cited 123×
- Commonwealth v. ShelleyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1978-02-23· cited 115×
- Commonwealth v. ShelleyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1980-08-21· cited 105×
- Commonwealth v. FranklinMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1974-10-21· cited 100×
- Commonwealth v. ToroMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1985-07-10· cited 95×
- Santiago v. CommonwealthMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1998-07-21· cited 83×
- Commonwealth v. ChipmanMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1994-07-11· cited 74×
- Santiago v. CommonwealthMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1998-04-14· cited 73×
- Commonwealth v. GreenMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1995-07-17· cited 70×
- Commonwealth v. PersonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1987-06-01· cited 68×
- Commonwealth v. SCHATVENMassachusetts Appeals Court· 1986-11-12· cited 67×
- Commonwealth v. ThomasMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1999-03-05· cited 62×
- Commonwealth v. MahoneyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1990-03-07· cited 61×
- Commonwealth v. RedmondMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1976-07-06· cited 58×
- Commonwealth v. RolonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 2003-03-13· cited 57×
- Commonwealth v. AndersonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1991-11-26· cited 50×
Sourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).
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