On March 6, 2017, Attorney Wood and a team of attorneys from Ropes & Gray filed a brief in the Supreme Court on behalf of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Weaver v. Massachusetts, No. 16-240. They argue that the Court should not shy away from vindicating the treasured right to a public trial. The government's argument that vindicating the right to a public trial would "open up the floodgates" is both factually incorrect and diverts attention from the real issue: whether our Constitution entitles everyone to a public trial. Read the brief here.
Attorney Wood recently testified as an expert witness on the effective assistance of counsel. in a pretrial evidentiary hearing in a Norfolk County felony case. A superior court judge found him qualified to explain the constitutional and ethical obligations of a criminal defense lawyer generally, the elements of effective representation, and to offer an opinion on the effectiveness of the defendant's prior attorney in permitting his client to submit to a police interrogation.