In March 2025 a Norfolk police officer allegedly saw a driver cross the fog line while driving on Dedham Street at approximately 10 p.m.
The officer got behind the car and, while still in his jurisdiction, activated his emergency lights.
The driver rolled across the Norfolk border and came to a stop in the town of Wrentham.
The officer conducted the usual field sobriety tests, concluded that the driver was impaired, and placed him under arrest.
The driver’s lawyer filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the officer did not have authority to arrest the driver outside of officer’s jurisdiction.
A district court judge denied the motion.
According to the judge, the “mutual aid agreement” between Norfolk and Wrentham permitted the officer to arrest the defendant in Wrentham.
To challenge this decision, the driver’s lawyer filed an emergency petition (pursuant to G.L. c. 211, Sec. 3) with a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court (SJC).
The single justice denied the motion without a hearing, noting
[u]pon consideration of the defendant’s petition as well as the District Court’s order, I conclude that the petition does not present “the type of exceptional matter that requires the court’s extraordinary intervention.
Undeterred, the man’s lawyer appealed the single justice’s decision.
Today the SJC issued a slip opinion upholding the single justice’s ruling.
According to the justices,
[t]he denial of a motion to dismiss in a criminal case is not appealable until after trial, and . . . G. L. c. 211, § 3, may not be used to circumvent that rule.
The full text of the decision is attached below.