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Thoughts to Ponder

In Commonwealth v. Pearson (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court No. SJC-12930, February 12, 2021), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court commented upon occasions when a police officer must testify to his or her intent at the time he or she took some earlier action. The court observed: 

"[Such occasions] could incentivize post hoc (viz. after-the-fact) attestations from police that they intended to [act appropriately despite their] . . . earlier unlawful conduct. The [United States] Supreme Court anticipated this concern in Murray v. United States, 487 U.S. 533, 540 n. 2 (1988), noting that "[t]o say that a . . . court must be satisfied that [officers later acted appropriately despite their earlier] illegal [conduct] is not to give dispositive effect to police officers' assurances on the point."