Field v. Commonwealth
Annotate this CaseAfter a trial, Defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree. Defendant appealed. Defendant also filed a motion for a new trial, arguing that she was deprived of the effective assistance of trial counsel. Defendant’s appeal was stayed pending resolution of her motion for a new trial. On the Commonwealth’s motions, the trial judge ordered that trial counsel be summonsed to testify at the hearing on Defendant’s motion and that Defendant provide the Commonwealth with certain discovery. Defendant subsequently filed a petition pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 211, 3 seeking relief from these orders. A single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court denied extraordinary relief. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding that Defendant had an adequate alternative remedy by way of appeal from any adverse ruling on the motion for a new trial.
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