Criminal defendants in Massachusetts can refile unsuccessful pretrial motions if “substantial justice” requires it.
According to Rule 13(a)(5) of the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure:
Upon a showing that substantial justice requires, the judge or special magistrate may permit a pretrial motion which has been heard and denied to be renewed.
Renewal motions are justified when new evidence, favorable to the defendant, comes to light. Additionally, it would be proper for a defense attorney to refile a motion if he failed to raise a viable argument in this first filing. More rarely, a renewed motion may be submitted to the court if the law has changed in a way that’s advantageous tot he defendant.
Case law emphasizes that judge have a well established right to reconsider their prior rulings:
A judge’s power to reconsider his own decisions during the pendency of a case is firmly rooted in the common law, and the adoption of rule 13 was not intended to disturb this authority.
Commonwealth v. Pagan, 73 Mass. App. Ct. 369, 375 (2008).