# Commonwealth v. Flebotte

> Massachusetts Appeals Court · June 28, 1993 · 34 Mass. App. Ct. 676

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9724165

## Case

- **Full name:** Commonwealth vs. Richard Flebotte
- **Court:** Massachusetts Appeals Court
- **Decided:** June 28, 1993
- **Citations:** 34 Mass. App. Ct. 676; 615 N.E.2d 203; 1993 Mass. App. LEXIS 675
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Brown
- **Judges:** Brown, Kass, Laurence
- **Cited by:** 5 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9724165

## Opinion text

Brown, J.
(concurring). The majority concedes that this was not a well-tried case. I agree, albeit reluctantly, that any error here was, in all the circumstances, harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.
I often have counseled that the judge and the prosecutor, as well as the defense counsel, are equally responsible for ensuring that defendants receive a fair trial. Of course, “a judge is not bound to ask questions of prospective jurors beyond those required by G. L. c. 234, § 28,” ante at 677, but certain questions cry out for inclusion within the remaining broad range of discretion, when, as here, the charge is child sexual abuse, and the question requested during empanelment is whether any member has been the victim of child abuse when he or she was a child.
*682 Likewise, all participants should be aware of the great potential danger inherent in use of fresh complaint testimony, particularly when the victims are young children. As already mentioned by the majority, defense counsel filed no pretrial motion in limine, even though “[tjhere was forewarning” that three witnesses might describe acts beyond those testified to by the victim. Neither the judge nor the prosecutor reacted in a manner which would have blunted what the majority called a “telegraphed” punch.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9724165. Public record. Not legal advice.