Mass. high court hears appeal alleging egregious Brady violations in Goparian murder conviction

The Supreme Judicial Court heard oral argument in SJC-13391 over whether Donovan E. Goparian’s first-degree murder conviction should be set aside after defense counsel said prosecutors failed to disclose a 2018 federal proffer that pointed to other possible perpetrators.

Merit Schnipper, appearing for Goparian, told the court, “The Brady violation in this case was egregious, both in terms of the initial nondisclosure and in terms of the prosecutor's failure in his duty of inquiry upon receiving the Richardson email.” Schnipper said the withheld material included a proffer in which a federal informant (referred to in briefs as Nuzzolillo or a similar spelling) reported admissions by Billy McElhinney, who Schnipper described as the defendant’s nephew and a central witness at trial.

Why it matters: Goparian is serving a life sentence without parole for a 2019 murder, and the appeal raises whether nondisclosure and the trial court’s refusal to order an evidentiary hearing deprived the defense of material exculpatory evidence under Brady and related standards. Schnipper told the justices that the defense spent two years in public-records work to obtain an email from Detective Richardson showing the Commonwealth had been put on notice of the proffer and yet did not disclose it before trial or at subsequent post-conviction proceedings.

Defense argument and evidence cited

Schnipper said the withheld information went beyond mere…