Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

MA: Collateral estoppel requires mutuality of parties; codefendant's win of his suppression hearing does not preclude prosecution

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Collateral estoppel in criminal cases requires mutuality of parties. Here, the codefendant's win of his suppression hearing that the state did not appeal does not preclude the prosecution from attempting to use the evidence against the defendant. While Massachusetts cases do suggest that mutuality is not required, the Supreme Judicial Court concludes that those cases do not apply to suppression hearings. One purpose of collateral estoppel, conserving judicial resources, is not served by nonmutu read more

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 18, 2008 (boomark / email).