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Commonwealth v. Magadini | 52 N.E.3d 1041 (2016)
The necessity defense allows juries to exonerate defendants when the harm from following the law would be worse than the harm from breaking it. The Massachusetts high court considered whether a homeless person who trespassed to escape cold weather could raise this defense in the twenty sixteen case Commonwealth versus Magadini.
David Magadini was a lifelong resident of Great Barrington, Massachusetts. After becoming homeless, Magadini mostly lived outside. He stayed at the town’s homeless shelter for a few months during the winter of two thousand seven, but then the shelter asked him to leave for unspecified reasons. For the next few years, Magadini lived outside, eventually moving from a park to a large gazebo. During this time, Magadini was unable to secure an apartment, and he would sometimes seek shelter in privately owned buildings, mostly on very cold nights in wintertime. Three buildings obtained no trespass orders against Magadini, but he violated the orders on seven separate occasions, including once in June.
Subsequently, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts charged Magadini with seven counts of criminal trespass. Magadini argued that the trial court should instruct the jury on the necessity defense, but the trial court refused, reasoning that legal alternatives to trespassing had been available to Magadini. For example, he could’ve left Great Barrington and found a homeless shelter in another town. Magadini was convicted on all seven counts, and he appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
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