Commonwealth v. C.K. – Dedham District Court

IN DOMESTIC ASSAULT & BATTERY TRIAL, ATTORNEY PATRICK J. NOONAN CONVINCES TRIAL JUDGE TO SUPPRESS FROM EVIDENCE THE VICTIM’S 911 CALL TO POLICE FORCING THE PROSECUTION TO DISMISS THE CASE.

Defendant, a resident of Needham, was in a dating relationship with a woman. The woman, who resides in Dedham, called 911 and reported that the Defendant punched her in the face and punched her in the eye. In the 911, she is very upset, she is distraught, she is very emotional, she is afraid, she is breathing heavy, and she is crying. When the police arrived to her residence, the Defendant had already left. Police observed that the right side of her face was swollen and she had marks on her neck, marks on her right shoulder, and marks on her right arm. Police took photos of her injuries. She gave police the Defendant’s license plate and they searched for his vehicle. Eventually, police stopped the Defendant in Needham. Defendant told police that the victim became upset with him because he was talking to another woman on the phone and the victim threw a TV remote at him and struck him. He denied hitting her. He admitted to leaving the house when she called 911 because he was afraid of getting in trouble. The Dedham Police arrested him. Defendant was charged with Assault & Battery on a Family / Household Member (G.L. c. 265, § 13M).

Result: During the pretrial stages, the alleged victim told the District Attorney’s Office that nothing happened, the Defendant did not hit her, Defendant did nothing wrong, she made everything up, and she didn’t want to press charges. She refused to testify at trial. Despite her statements and lack of cooperation, the prosecution refused to dismiss the case and sought to have a trial and convict the Defendant. The prosecution sought to prove the case at trial without the testimony of the victim by introducing the 911 tape and introducing the photos of her injuries. At trial, Attorney Patrick J. Noonan filed a Motion in Limine to exclude the victim’s 911 call. The Trial Judge found that the 911 call was admissible as an excited utterance but Attorney Noonan argued that the 911 tape was not admissible under the United States Supreme Court case of Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004). After a hearing, the Trial Judge agreed with Attorney Noonan and suppressed the 911 tape from evidence and the prosecution was forced to dismiss the case.