United States v. Houlihan

871 F. Supp. 1495 (D. Mass. 1994)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

James Boyden Jr. was found dead. He had been shot in the back of the head. P moved in limine for an Order permitting it to offer hearsay statements made. P proffered the following evidence: Prior to his death, James Boyden Jr. allegedly told his sister, Marie Boyden Connors, that he had had a loud argument with the Lynch (D) in which she warned him that if he did not stop selling cocaine from her corner, she would have the defendant Fitzgerald (D) 'blow [his] head off.' James Boyden Jr. allegedly related similar accounts of this event to his mother, Veronica Boyden; his father, James Boyden Sr.; and another witness. His sister and mother each reported seeing him afterward with a bandage on his face. Both women reported that James Boyden Jr. told them that Fitzgerald had beaten him up. The senior Mr. Boyden and another witness also reported that James Boyden Jr. had told them that he had been hit by Fitzgerald. On the evening before he was found dead, James Boyden Jr. was hanging out in his sister's Charlestown apartment drinking beer, departing at about 8:00 PM. As he was leaving, he allegedly told his sister that he was going out 'to meet Herd.' Herd (D) is a co-defendant in this case. P abandoned its effort to admit most of these hearsay statements. It did seek to admit the statement of James Boyden Jr. to his sister that he intended to meet Herd as relevant circumstantial evidence that it was Herd who killed him later that evening.