Commonwealth v. Barnett
Annotate this Case
The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of murder in the first degree on theories of deliberate premeditation and felony-murder and declined to exercise its power under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278, 33E to reduce the conviction to murder in the second degree, holding that no reversible error occurred in the proceedings below.
After he was convicted Defendant filed a motion for a new trial, arguing that his trial counsel provided constitutionally ineffective assistance particularly in regards to DNA evidence presented by the Commonwealth. The trial court denied the motion for a new trial and a subsequent motion for reconsideration. Defendant appealed, raising the same ineffective assistance of counsel claims and, for the first time, a challenge that certain evidence should have been excluded as hearsay. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding (1) the challenged testimony was properly admitted against Defendant as a statement by a party opponent; and (2) none of Defendant's claims of error regarding defense counsel's treatment of the DNA evidence required a new trial.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.