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Attorneys Emma Quinn-Judge and Monica Shah spoke to Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly about the amendments to Rule 14 of the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure. The revisions dramatically reform Rule 14 in response to the SJC’s decision in Committee for Public Counsel Services v. Attorney General, which ordered the an advisory committee to propose a checklist to clarify the definition of exculpatory evidence under Brady and its progeny in response to Massachusetts’ drug lab scandal. Attorneys Quinn-Judge and Shah had submitted an amicus brief on behalf of the Cato Institute and the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law, which advocated for such a checklist to ensure that DA’s offices are held accountable for their broad disclosure obligations. Among other changes, revised Rule 14 includes a detailed non-exhaustive definition of the prosecutorial team, defines exculpatory evidence as any evidence “favorable to the defense,” and requires disclosure of such evidence as early as arraignment and the first pre-trial conference. As the article explains, how the rule is implemented will be closely watched by defense attorneys when it goes into effect in March 2025. Read the full article here: Defense lawyers in ‘wait-and-see’ mode on new criminal rule | Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly