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Appeals court scrutinizes inflammatory testimony and social-media authentication in sex-assault appeal
Summary
In Commonwealth v. Juan Almodovar, defense argued inflammatory uncharged conduct testimony improperly functioned as propensity evidence and that Facebook screenshots lacked proper authentication; the Commonwealth said limiting instructions and case law on authentication weigh against reversal.
The appeals panel heard argument in Commonwealth v. Juan Almodovar on Jan. 5, where defense counsel contended the trial was infected by highly inflammatory uncharged sexual-assault testimony and by improperly authenticated social-media screenshots and messages.
Brad Benyon, for the appellant, said the verdict turned on the complainant's credibility and identified three appellate issues: (1) spontaneous, uncharged sexual-assault testimony that operated as propensity evidence and was not effectively removed by…
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