MA High Court Upholds Guilty Verdict In Braintree Strangling Case

BRAINTREE, MA — The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned an appeals court judge, upholding the conviction of a Brockton man who strangled his ex-girlfriend in 2015.

A jury found Roy Rand guilty of assault and battery after beating and strangling in 2016 while acquitting him on other charges, including attempted murder.

But In June 2020, Appeals Court Justice Vickie Henry overturned Rand's conviction, ruling Rand's rights under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution were violated. Henry said the trial judge was wrong to allow the victim's 911 call and statements to police to be admissible in court, because she was not made available as a witness in the trial and depriving Roy his right to confront witnesses. The documents in question included details about the assault and the circumstances that led up to the attack.

The Supreme Judicial Court's ruling overturns the appeals court ruling. The court ruled that the victim's 911 call and statements to responding Braintree police officers were not made with the intention of creating evidence that could be use against Roy in lieu of her testimony.

"We hold that most of the admitted statements were not made with the primary purpose of creating a substitute for trial testimony," the high court's decision reads. "Thus, they were nontestimonial and did not violate the defendant's confrontation rights" under the Sixth Amendment.