Opinion ID: 429672
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: 2 We state the facts only to the extent necessary to understand the issues before us. 1 On January 28, 1974, Look fatally injured his wife with a shotgun. While Look admits to this, he has consistently maintained that the shooting was an accident which occurred while he was cleaning a gun used for hunting. On May 29, 1974, after a probable cause hearing, he was indicted for murder in the first degree. Thereafter, until March of 1975, the Plymouth County Superior Court, entertained numerous pretrial motions made by both parties. On March 17, 1975, the court granted Look's motion to suppress certain statements made by his wife after the shooting, shortly before she died, tending to inculpate Look. 2 The Commonwealth applied to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on March 26, 1975 for an interlocutory appeal from the suppression order. On November 22, 1975, the Supreme Judicial Court dismissed the application for want of prosecution. The Commonwealth's failure to pursue this matter was part of a larger, continuing default from March 26, 1975 onward, for a period of some 31 months. During this period, the Commonwealth inexplicably did absolutely nothing in respect to Look's case. Finally, on November 2, 1977 it moved to vacate the dismissal of the interlocutory appeal. That motion was denied on November 22, 1977. During the 31-month hiatus, Look himself, who was represented by experienced counsel and was not incarcerated, neither moved to dismiss the indictment, sought a trial, nor made any inquiry into the status of his case. 3 The Commonwealth finally came back to life on March 27, 1978, when it sought a trial assignment. Look responded on April 5, 1978 with a motion to dismiss for lack of a speedy trial, in which he asserted actual prejudice for the same reasons he now cites: inability to locate a defense witness, a Ms. Betty Roy; his own and other witnesses' diminished recollections; and his anxiety and concern during the more than four-year pretrial period. This motion was denied, and the trial commenced on October 19, 1978, more than 56 months after his arrest. 4 The trial judge instructed the jury on first and second degree murder, though not on involuntary manslaughter. Look was convicted of second degree murder and given a mandatory life sentence. Look took a timely appeal to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in which he raised the speedy trial issue. His conviction was affirmed, 379 Mass. 893, 402 N.E.2d 470 (1980), and his petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States was denied. 449 U.S. 827, 101 S.Ct. 91, 66 L.Ed.2d 31 (1980). Thereafter Look filed the present application for habeas corpus in the district court, which denied relief, 546 F.Supp. 858.