Mass. Supreme Judicial Court Hears Arguments on Whether Section 51A Report Triggers Dwyer Access to Therapy Records

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court heard argument over whether a mandated Section 51A/51B report and the resulting referral to prosecutors provide a defendant the preliminary showing required under Lampron–Dwyer to obtain confidential therapeutic records in a child sexual‑assault prosecution.

The issue matters because it pits two policies against one another: statutory reporting duties and child‑victim confidentiality on one hand, and a defendant’s constitutional right to evidence that might bear on fabrication or credibility on the other. Counsel for the defendant argued that the flow from an initial complaint to mandated reporting and immediate referral to police and prosecutors can satisfy Dwyer’s preliminary showing; counsel for the victim and the Commonwealth urged the court not to adopt so broad a rule.

Merit Schnipper, attorney for Darmel Safi, told the court that the case is atypical and that the factual sequence alleged by defense counsel supports the inference that the minor discussed the alleged assault during custodial mental‑health care. "This is a very unusual Dwyer case because we're not reaching the court after a trial conviction," Schnipper said, arguing the record shows an emergency psychiatric intervention, a crisis evaluation by Clinical and Support Options…