Commonwealth v. Morgan (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-058-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-12114 COMMONWEALTH vs. JOEL D. MORGAN. Middlesex. December 6, 2016. – April 18, 2017. Present (Sitting at Lawrence): Gants, C.J., Botsford, Lenk, Hines, Gaziano, Lowy, & Budd, JJ.[1] Veteran. Motor Vehicle, Operating under the influence. Controlled Substances. Practice, Criminal, Continuance without a finding, Dismissal. Complaint received and sworn to in the Lowell Division of the District Court Department on October 3, 2014. A motion for pretrial diversion was heard by Barbara S. Pearson, J., and questions of law were reported by her to the Appeals Court. The Supreme Judicial Court granted an application for direct appellate review. Melissa Weisgold Johnsen, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. Elizabeth Hugetz, Committee for Public Counsel Services (Benjamin H. Keehn, Committee for Public Counsel Services, also present) for the defendant. John C. Mooney, for John C. Mooney & another, amici curiae, submitted a brief. LENK, J. This case comes to us on two reported questions and calls upon us to construe for the first time the so-called VALOR Act, St. 2012, c. 108, entitled “An Act relative to veterans’ access, livelihood, opportunity and resources.” The VALOR Act was enacted in 2012 in the aftermath of protracted American military engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq. In recognition of the toll thereby taken on many who served in the military, the VALOR Act, among other things, amended the statute providing young adults with pretrial diversion, G. L. c. 276A (pretrial diversion statute), to include qualifying veterans and active duty members of our armed forces facing criminal charges in the District and Boston Municipal Courts. We address first whether, under the pretrial diversion statute, as amended by the VALOR Act, a judge is authorized to dismiss or to continue such charges without a finding upon a defendant’s successful completion of an approved pretrial diversion program. We conclude that the judge is so authorized, rejecting the Commonwealth’s view that the VALOR Act amendments permit only a continuance of court proceedings, on the flawed view that, while military defendants could seek treatment through court-approved programs, they would face resumed prosecution of the charged offenses even after the successful completion of such a program. We go on to address the reported questions and consider whether the pretrial diversion statute, as amended by the VALOR Act, permits a […]