Commonwealth v. Morales (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-011-16)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us SJC-11867 COMMONWEALTH vs. NELSON MORALES. February 3, 2016. Bail. Supreme Judicial Court, Superintendence of inferior courts. This case is before us on a reservation and report from a single justice of the county court. It concerns a court’s authority to revoke a defendant’s bail pursuant to G. L. c. 276, § 58, where the defendant who was “on release” defaulted by failing to appear in court and later was charged with committing a new crime. A judge in the Boston Municipal Court concluded that a defendant in these circumstances is no longer “on release” and denied the Commonwealth’s motion to revoke his bail. The same question is raised in two other cases, Commonwealth v. Fontanez, 473 Mass. (2016), and Commonwealth v. Jaiman, 473 Mass. (2016), which we also decide today. Because we hold that the judge had the authority under § 58 to revoke the defendant’s bail, we reverse. Background. On August 22, 2014, the defendant was arraigned in the Boston Municipal Court on the charge of larceny of property over $ 250, in violation of G. L. c. 266, § 30. The court gave the defendant the bail revocation warning pursuant to G. L. c. 276, § 58, and released him on personal recognizance. At a subsequent pretrial hearing, the defendant failed to appear. The court found him in default and issued a default warrant. That warrant was still outstanding when the defendant was charged with committing a new crime in April, 2015. At his arraignment on the new charge — assault and battery of a family or household member, G. L. c. 265, § 13M (a)– the Commonwealth filed a motion to revoke the defendant’s bail or recognizance in the larceny matter pursuant to G. L. c. 276, § 58. The Commonwealth also requested bail in the new assault and battery matter. A judge of the Boston Municipal Court denied the Commonwealth’s motion on the ground that the defendant was no longer subject to bail revocation under G. L. c. 276, § 58, sixth par. The judge reasoned that because he defaulted in the prior larceny matter he was no longer “on release” and, consequently, did not commit the new crime during the period of release. The judge did not take any action on the outstanding default warrant. In the new assault and battery matter, the judge set bail in the amount of $ 500 and […]