Commonwealth v. Rodriguez (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-021-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-12093 COMMONWEALTH vs. BRANDON RODRIGUEZ. Bristol. October 5, 2016. – February 1, 2017. Present: Gants, C.J., Botsford, Lenk, Hines, Gaziano, Lowy, & Budd, JJ. Receiving Stolen Goods. Larceny. Constitutional Law, Double jeopardy. Practice, Criminal, Dismissal, Double jeopardy, Collateral estoppel. Due Process of Law, Collateral estoppel, Prosecutorial vindictiveness. Estoppel. Collateral Estoppel. Judicial Estoppel. Complaint received and sworn to in the New Bedford Division of the District Court Department on July 24, 2013. A motion to dismiss was heard by Lisa F. Edmonds, J. The Supreme Judicial Court granted an application for direct appellate review. Roger L. Michel, Jr., Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. Timothy St. Lawrence for the defendant. BUDD, J. In this case we consider whether an acquittal on a charge of receipt of stolen property bars a subsequent prosecution for larceny of the same property. We conclude that principles of double jeopardy are not a bar to such action and that the successive prosecutions here do not violate the equitable principles that must be considered in such cases. Background and procedure. 1. The Commonwealth’s allegations.[1] In 2012, the defendant went to his friend’s house. While the friend searched for his cellular telephone, he discovered the defendant in his mother’s bedroom, standing in front of her jewelry box. A drawer in the jewelry box was open. The defendant claimed he had been petting the friend’s dog, who was in the bedroom. The defendant asked his friend if he wanted the defendant “to shake [his] pockets out,” but the friend declined. The next day, the friend’s mother discovered that a family ring was missing. Later, her daughter saw a photograph online of the defendant in which he was wearing the ring on a chain around his neck. The receipt of stolen property charge. The Commonwealth initially sought a complaint in the New Bedford Division of the District Court Department against the defendant on the charges of both larceny in excess of $ 250 and receipt of stolen property, pursuant to G. L. c. 266, §§ 30 (1) and 60, respectively. Apparently, because the friend was unavailable at the time, the Commonwealth was unable to present the factual evidence necessary to establish probable cause of larceny by the defendant. As a result, the clerk-magistrate issued […]