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Melendez-Diaz Not Retro For Melendez-Diaz

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The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has held that the rule on confrontation and lab reports established in Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts is not retroactive on collateral review in the case of Commonwealth v. Melendez-Diaz, SJC-10857.

Huh?  How can that be?  The court explains in footnote 2:

The defendant in this case is the same person who was the defendant in the Melendez-Diaz case. The conviction that led to the Supreme Court decision arose from events that took place in Suffolk County on November 15, 2001. See Commonwealth v. Melendez-Diaz, 69 Mass.App.Ct. 1114 (2007), rev'd, 129 S.Ct. 2527 (2009). The conviction in this case arose from events that took place in Plymouth County on February 20, 2004.
I can't link directly to the opinion due to Massachusetts's quirky system for posting opinions.  You can access it through this site.

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