Commonwealth v. Jones
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of rape and furnishing alcohol to a minor. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated Defendant’s convictions and remanded for a new trial, holding (1) the trial judge erred in permitting an expert witness who was not present when the victim’s “rape kit” examination was performed to testify about how the various swabs she tested had been collected, and the error was prejudicial; and (2) the trial judge erred in closing the rape shield hearing to determine the admissibility of evidence relating to the victim’s prior sexual contact with the individual to whom the victim first reported the alleged rape without conducting the four-prong framework required for court room closures under the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Waller v. Georgia.
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