Commonwealth v. Shea (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-069-14)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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‑11412 COMMONWEALTH vs. DONNA SHEA. Norfolk. January 7, 2014. ‑ April 14, 2014. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, Duffly, & Lenk, JJ. Protective Order. Abuse Prevention. Practice, Criminal, Instructions to jury, Contempt, Law of the case. Intent. Statute. Complaint received and sworn to in the Quincy Division of the District Court Department on May 11, 2010. The case was tried before Robert P. Ziemian, J. The Supreme Judicial Court on its own initiative transferred the case from the Appeals Court. Jin-Ho King for the defendant. Pamela Alford, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. GANTS, J. A District Court jury convicted the defendant, Donna Shea, of violating a protection order issued by a judge in New Hampshire, which is a crime under G. L. c. 209A, § 7.[1] The primary issue presented on appeal is whether the judge was correct in using Massachusetts law, rather than the law of New Hampshire, to instruct the jury regarding the intent required for a finding of a violation of the protection order. Given that G. L. c. 209A, § 5A, requires that a protection order issued by another jurisdiction be “enforced as if it were issued in the commonwealth,” we conclude that Massachusetts law governs the violation of such protection orders where the violation occurred in Massachusetts. We also conclude that no substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice arose with regard to the instructions to the jury. Background. We briefly summarize the evidence at trial. The victim, Christine Frawley, is the widow of the defendant’s nephew.[2] The victim applied for a restraining order against the defendant from a court in New Hampshire, where the victim lived, because she “was in fear for [her] life and [her] children’s lives.” At the hearing on March 30, 2010, at which the defendant failed to appear despite receiving notice, the judge issued an order of protection on behalf of the victim against the defendant, which was effective until March 29, 2011. The protection order prohibited the defendant, among other things, from abusing the victim, having any contact with her, and coming within one hundred yards of her. The defendant was served with the protective order at her residence in Weymouth on April 5, 2010. Less than one month later, the defendant sought a temporary abuse […]