Angiulo: Motions for New Trial- Not Just for the Rich and Famous
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Monday, November 25, 2013
Leonardo Angiulo, GoLocalWorcester Legal Contributor
Michael Skakel reportedly walked out of a Connecticut Courthouse after posting bail on Thursday November 21, 2013. This matters because earlier that day he was residing in the same prison system where he had spent more than ten years for a murder conviction. If you've been in New England long enough to remember Y2K fears, you probably also remember the 2002 trial of Mr. Skakel. This was an especially big deal because of the lurid details; the wealthy community where the alleged acts occurred and the fact that the defendant was a cousin of the Kennedys. You know, the family with the omnipresent political dynasty. In the end, it was the way the trial occurred that ultimately resulted in Mr. Skakel's release.
While every state has its own laws and criminal courts, one of the traditions shared by Connecticut and Massachusetts is a defendant's ability to file a motion for a new trial. At the center of the analysis is whether, or not, justice was served when the defendant's original trial occurred. In Massachusetts precedent, two popular motions are those filed for new trial based on factual issues and motions made for constitutional error.
When a defendant claims some newly discovered evidence mandates a new trial, the court will assess several factors from the filings before even holding a hearing on the matter. The case of Commonwealth v. Grace lays out those considerations as both the quality of the new evidence and whether, or not, there’s a good reason the evidence didn't get presented at the original trial. Regarding quality, the court must find it to have been material, credible and “carry a measure of strength in support of the defendant's position.” That is to say, the new evidence offered must be meaningful.
One group that specializes in meaningful evidence casting doubt on the propriety of some convictions is the non-profit Innocence Project. Their website presents stories and concrete examples of how people have been convicted, incarcerated and later released because subsequent DNA testing reveals they could not have been the perpetrator.
Of course, sometimes it isn't new facts so much as how the original facts were presented that serve as the basis for a motion for new trial. As we saw in the case of Mr. Skakel, a person is guaranteed the right to “the Assistance of Counsel for his defense” when facing criminal charges by the Sixth Amendment. If upon review trial counsel fails to meet the legal standard for effectiveness, then a defendant's conviction must be vacated.
Whether a person is incarcerated because of bad lawyering or not is a question ultimately answered by the particular judge hearing the motion for review. In making that decision the judges of Massachusetts are guided by cases like Commonwealth v. Saferian. In Saferian, the court highlighted that such motions require evidence that the behavior of trial counsel was both “measurably below that . . . expected from an ordinary fallible lawyer” and that it deprived the defendant of an “otherwise available, substantial ground of defense.”
It is no coincidence that our country's history is full of cases that both prosecutors and defendants ultimately come to learn should be overturned. And for every conviction vacated there are others that are upheld. The important part is that both defendants and victims know that the criminal justice system operates by particular rules for a good reason: so that justice will be done at trial.
Leonardo Angiulo is an Attorney with the firm of Glickman, Sugarman, Kneeland & Gribouski in Worcester handling legal matters across the Commonwealth. He can be reached by email at [email protected].
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