# Commonwealth v. Allen

> Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · March 30, 1979 · 377 Mass. 674

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9738728

## Case

- **Full name:** Commonwealth vs. Joseph L. Allen
- **Court:** Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
- **Decided:** March 30, 1979
- **Citations:** 377 Mass. 674; 387 N.E.2d 553; 1979 Mass. LEXIS 1098
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Wilkins
- **Judges:** Hennessey, Quirico, Kaplan, Wilkins, Abrams
- **Cited by:** 21 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/9738728

## Opinion text

Wilkins, J.
(concurring). I dissented in Commonwealth v. Vitello, 376 Mass. 426 (1978). See dissenting opinion of Braucher, J., id. at 465 .1 adhere to my earlier views but agree that the law suddenly established in the Vitello case calls for a new trial here. I join generally in the opinion of the court in its analysis of the issues in light of the Vitello decision. However, in my view, the admission of some of the photographs calls for a new trial in any event. Prosecutors should exercise restraint in offering inflammatory photographs of minimum relevance or, as here, of no relevance at all. If such restraint is not employed, judges should exercise their discretion to exclude such photographs.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9738728. Public record. Not legal advice.