Commonwealth v. Sallop (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-151-15)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-11753 COMMONWEALTH vs. GEORGE SALLOP. Middlesex. March 5, 2015. – September 3, 2015. Present: Gants, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Duffly, Lenk, & Hines, JJ. Sex Offender. Community Parole Supervision for Life. Constitutional Law, Sentence, Sex offender, Double jeopardy. Practice, Criminal, Sentence, Double jeopardy. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on November 9, 2000. A motion to vacate a condition of probation, filed on April 9, 2013, was considered by Diane M. Kottmyer, J. After review by the Appeals Court, the Supreme Judicial Court granted leave to obtain further appellate review. Iris Alkalay for the defendant. Melissa Weisgold Johnsen, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. GANTS, C.J. In this appeal, we consider whether a newly restructured sentence imposed on a defendant after he has successfully moved to vacate community parole supervision for life (CPSL) violates our double jeopardy doctrine. We conclude that, where a defendant sentenced to committed time on a conviction is resentenced to a term of probation, the new sentence violates double jeopardy where the defendant already has completed the original sentence on that conviction before the resentencing. But where the defendant has yet to complete the original sentence on a conviction, resentencing to a term of probation does not violate double jeopardy, provided that the total length of incarceration imposed on the defendant for that conviction is not increased. Consequently, if the defendant’s probation were to be revoked, the defendant may not be sentenced to a term of incarceration longer than the time remaining on his original uncompleted sentence. Background. In 2002, the defendant, George Sallop, pleaded guilty to two indictments charging rape of a child with force (counts 1 and 2), one indictment charging assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon (count 3), one indictment charging open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior (count 4), and two indictments charging assault and battery (counts 5 and 6). He was sentenced to concurrent committed terms as follows: on counts 1 and 2, from ten to fifteen years in the State prison; on count 3, from nine to ten years in the State prison; on count 4, from two to three years in the State prison; and on counts 5 and 6, two and one-half years in the house of […]