Opinion

Commonwealth v. Padilla

  • 42 Mass. App. Ct. 67
  • 674 N.E.2d 1102
  • 1997 Mass. App. LEXIS 15
Court
Massachusetts Appeals Court
Filed
Jan 22, 1997
Status
Published
Author
Brown
On the bench
Brown, Dreben
Cited by
7 cases
Authority
More cited than 10.9%

The opinion

Brown, J.

(concurring). I concur, albeit reluctantly. It seems to me that if a picture painted by affidavits is cloudy, it is the responsibility of the motion judge — not this court — to puzzle out the situation. If Commonwealth v. Amral, 407 Mass. 511 (1990), stands for anything, it is a red flag for lower court judges at least to make a minimal exploratory inquiry.

Although I think the judge here should have conducted an Amral hearing, I concur because, apart from the probable waiver of such a hearing, as the majority points out, “there was here no substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice.”

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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