Home/Massachusetts Appeals Court/Commonwealth v. Bedard

Commonwealth v. Bedard

383 N.E.2d 546, 6 Mass. App. Ct. 959
Massachusetts Appeals Court·Decided December 26, 1978·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

There is no absolute rule of law as to the time within which the victim of a sexual assault must make her first complaint of the assault in order to qualify that complaint for admission in evidence as a fresh complaint. See Commonwealth v. Bailey, 370 Mass. 388, 390, 391-392, 392-393 (1976). It is clear from the evidence at voir dire and from the judge’s findings thereon that the victim’s first complaint in this case was made within a period of time following the rapes which was reasonably prompt in light of all the circumstances. Nothing more was required. The relevant cases are collected in Commonwealth v. Lund, 5 Mass. App. Ct. 884 (1977).

Judgments affirmed.

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Commonwealth v. Bedard, 383 N.E.2d 546, 6 Mass. App. Ct. 959 (Mass. Ct. App. 1978).

383 N.E.2d 546 (Commonwealth v. Bedard) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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