Commonwealth v. Arce (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-031-14)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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‑11451 COMMONWEALTH vs. JOSE ARMANDO ARCE. Middlesex. November 5, 2013. ‑ February 27, 2014. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, Duffly, & Lenk, JJ. Sex Offender. Sex Offender Registration and Community Notification Act. Complaint received and sworn to in the Lowell Division of the District Court Department on August 16, 2010. The case was heard by Lynne C. Rooney, J. The Supreme Judicial Court on its own initiative transferred the case from the Appeals Court. Lois J. Martin for the defendant. Laura Kirshenbaum, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. CORDY, J. On August 3, 2006, the defendant pleaded guilty to charges of assault and battery, indecent assault and battery on a child under fourteen years of age, and accosting a person of the opposite sex, and was required to register as a level three sex offender. On July 20, 2010, he was arrested and subsequently charged with violating G. L. c. 6, § 178H (a) (1) (failing to register, failing to verify registration information, failing to provide notice of change of address, or providing false information). At the defendant’s jury-waived trial, the Commonwealth alleged that the defendant, who registered on July 12, 2010, as homeless, failed to notify police that he had begun living in an apartment with his aunt, Alma Carrasquillo (Alma), either as his home or as his secondary residence, and that he knowingly provided false information when he registered as homeless eight days before being arrested. On May 3, 2011, the defendant was found guilty and sentenced to one year in a house of correction and to community parole supervision for life (CPSL). On appeal, the defendant argues that the Commonwealth did not meet its burden of proving either that he provided false information as to his homeless status on July 12, 2010, or that his aunt’s apartment had become either his home or secondary residence, such that he had an obligation to notify the police of a change of address. He further argues that the imposition of CPSL violates his constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishments under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and art. 26 of the Declaration of Rights of the Massachusetts Constitution. Because we conclude that the evidence was insufficient, we vacate […]