On behalf of MACDL, Attorney Wood and a team of attorneys from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr recently filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Judicial Court to fully enforce people’s rights not to be targeted for stops based on their race, regardless of whether the police have reasonable suspicion. The Commonwealth has repeatedly argued that if the police have reasonable suspicion, then it does not matter whether someone has been targeted because of their race. This argument is pernicious, essentially reading the equal protection clause out of the constitution. The SJC must reject such arguments.
Important Amicus Brief Regarding Police Stops
Today, the SJC heard argument in Commonwealth v. Tykorie Evelyn, an important case regarding police stops in so-called “high crime” areas where residents may seek to avoid contact with the police out of nervousness or fear, not consciousness of guilt. As co-chair of the MACDL Amicus Committee, Attorney Wood was proud to help pull together and assist a great team from Foley Hoag consisting of Anthony Mirenda, Neil Austin, Rachel Hutchinson, and Ned Melanson. Their brief powerfully argues, among other things, that nervousness or lack of engagement by a black teenager during a police encounter is not indicative of criminality. You can read the brief here.