Commonwealth v. Lally

Summary

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Thomas Lally's conviction for murder in the first degree and the denial of his motion for a new trial. The court addressed challenges involving DNA evidence, a cooperating codefendant's prior consistent statements and plea agreement, prior misconduct evidence, prosecutorial argument, redaction, and ineffective assistance of counsel. It concluded that although certain errors occurred concerning the presentation of PCR DNA evidence, they did not create a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice.