Court Opinion

ID: 9738728
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:01:38.166856+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:08.159702
License: Public Domain

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.