Commonwealth v. Galvin (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-159-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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‑11369 COMMONWEALTH vs. THOMAS GALVIN. Suffolk. May 7, 2013. ‑ August 23, 2013. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, Duffly, & Lenk, JJ. Supreme Judicial Court, Superintendence of inferior courts. Practice, Criminal, Sentence. Statute, Amendment, Retroactive application. Civil action commenced in the Supreme Judicial Court for the county of Suffolk on September 21, 2012. The case was reported by Gants, J. David E. Clayton, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. David S. Levinson for the defendant. Alex G. Philipson, for Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, amicus curiae, submitted a brief. CORDY, J. In this case, we consider whether the mandatory minimum sentence required under G. L. c. 94C, § 32A (d) (§ 32A [d]), which was reduced effective August 2, 2012, by St. 2012, c. 192, §§ 14 and 48 (Crime Bill), applies to a defendant who committed an offense prior to the effective date of the reduction, but whose conviction and sentencing did not occur until after that effective date. We conclude that to interpret the statute amending the mandatory minimum sentence in § 32A (d) not to apply to the defendant would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the Legislature that the benefits of the sentence reductions in the Crime Bill broadly apply to all those serving or subject to serving such sentences.[1] 1. Background. On June 3, 2011, the defendant sold cocaine to an undercover Framingham police officer. On October 18, 2011, he was indicted for distributing cocaine in violation of G. L. c. 94C, § 32A (c), and for being a second or subsequent offender in violation of § 32A (d).[2] He faced a mandatory minimum prison term of five years as a subsequent offender under the enhanced penalty provisions of § 32A (d). On August 2, 2012, before the defendant’s trial had commenced, the Legislature enacted the Crime Bill.[3] Section 14 of the Crime Bill amended the enhanced penalty provision of § 32A (d) by reducing the mandatory minimum sentence from five years to three and one-half years. Additionally, § 48 of the Crime Bill provided that those persons already serving a mandatory minimum sentence under the prior iteration of § 32A (d) would be eligible for parole, probation, work release, and deductions in sentence for good conduct under the more generous provisions of the amendments thereby enacted.[4],[5] Twenty days later, on August 22, 2012, the defendant […]