Commonwealth v. Borgos

Summary

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Luis Alberto Montalvo Borgos’s conviction of murder in the first degree. The court rejected challenges to photographic identifications, testimony that witnesses feared for their lives, and testimony concerning the defendant’s drug sales. The court also found no basis for relief under G. L. c. 278, § 33E.

Holdings

1. The photographic identifications were admissible because the defendant failed to show by a preponderance of the evidence that, under the totality of the circumstances, the procedures were unnecessarily suggestive and conducive to irreparable misidentification.
2. Admission of the testimony that Rosario and Vilmarie were placed in a hotel because they feared for their lives, and the prosecutor's related closing argument, did not constitute error.
3. The testimony that the defendant sold drugs was admissible and did not create a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice.
4. The court found no basis to exercise its authority under G. L. c. 278, § 33E.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the photographic-identification procedures used with St. Pierre, Castle, Rosario, and Vilmarie were unnecessarily suggestive and conducive to irreparable misidentification in violation of due process.
2. Whether testimony that Rosario and Vilmarie were placed in a hotel because they feared for their lives, and the prosecutor's related closing argument, created reversible error.
3. Whether testimony that the defendant sold drugs was inadmissible because it was irrelevant or because its prejudicial effect outweighed its probative value.
4. Whether the court should grant extraordinary relief under G. L. c. 278, § 33E.

Disposition

affirmed