Commonwealth v. Johnson
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The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the superior court's order denying Defendant's second motion filed under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278A seeking DNA testing of biological material pertaining to his sex offense, holding that Defendant satisfied the requirements of chapter 278A, section 2(2).
Under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278A, 2(2) a person may file a motion for forensic or scientific analysis under chapter 278A if that person is incarcerated "as a result of a conviction." When he filed his motion Defendant was incarcerated in federal prison for failing to register as a sex offender. The Commonwealth argued that Defendant did not satisfy the requirements of the statute because he was not incarcerated for the crime that was the subject of his chapter 278A motion. The Supreme Judicial Court disagreed, holding that Defendant's current incarceration for failure to register was "as the result of" his sex offense, even though he was not incarcerated for that crime, and therefore, Defendant satisfied the requirements of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278A, 2(2).
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