The highly anticipated 4-3 ruling in the case of Commonwealth v. Sheldon Mattis, is a landmark decision in Massachusetts that juvenile justice advocates are hailing as a major step forward for the reform-minded state. It will impact those 18 to 20 who have been convicted of first-degree murder.
The Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday ordered a new trial for a man convicted of gunning down a 16-year-old outside a Geneva Avenue convenience store in September, 2011, ruling he did not get adequate representation because his lawyer spent parts of the trial asleep. The ruling on an appeal by Nyasani Watts, himself just 17 at the time of the murder, was one of two the