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Appeals court hears challenge to evidence and use of 20-year recidivism projections in Romanoff commitment appeal
Summary
In Commonwealth v. Mark Romanoff, defense counsel argued that a written "release plan" should have been admitted at trial and that the Commonwealth relied on unreliable 20-year recidivism projections; the Commonwealth said the 20-year figures were admissible context and that the defense waived a full Daubert/Lanigan reliability hearing.
The Massachusetts Appeals Court heard argument Oct. 3 in Commonwealth v. Mark Romanoff, a post-conviction commitment-style appeal in which the appellant challenged evidentiary rulings related to release planning documents and long-term actuarial recidivism projections.
Appellant's counsel Frederick Bartman told the panel that excluding a written release plan created an imbalance because qualified examiners referenced the plan in their reports and the jurors were left without the underlying document when weighing dangerousness. "The qualified examiner's report itself made reference to the release plan, and they made reference…
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