Butler v. O'Brien, No. 10-1235 (1st Cir. 2011)
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In 2002 defendant was convicted under the Massachusetts aggravated rape statute, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 265, 22(a). He exhausted state appeals. The district court denied a petition for habeas corpus. The First Circuit affirmed, rejecting a claim that the statute was void for vagueness as applied to the case, for failure to define "resulting in serious bodily injury." It was reasonable for the state court to conclude that the phrase was not a technical term and could be understood by non-lawyers.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on December 29, 2011.
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