Benjamin B., a juvenile v. Commonwealth (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-181-17)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-12341 Benjamin B., a juvenile vs. COMMONWEALTH. November 9, 2017. Supreme Judicial Court, Superintendence of inferior courts, Appeal from order of single justice. Juvenile Court, Delinquent child. Practice, Criminal, Juvenile delinquency proceeding, Complaint, Dismissal. The juvenile appeals from a judgment of the county court denying, without a hearing, his petition for relief under G. L. c. 211, § 3. The juvenile has been charged by a delinquency complaint with making a bomb threat.[1] A judge in the Juvenile Court, apparently believing that she lacked authority to dismiss the complaint prior to arraignment, arraigned the juvenile.[2] But see Commonwealth v. Humberto H., 466 Mass. 562, 575-576 (2013) (Juvenile Court judge has discretion to dismiss complaint prior to arraignment where complaint is not supported by probable cause). See also Commonwealth v. Mogelinski, 473 Mass. 164, 166-167 (2015) (authority to dismiss before arraignment where judge determines that Juvenile Court lacks jurisdiction). The following day, the judge reconsidered that decision, determined she did have authority to consider a motion to dismiss before arraignment, and entered an order vacating the arraignment of the juvenile and directing the probation department to expunge the juvenile’s court activity record information (CARI). The probation department moved for reconsideration, arguing that it was obligated to maintain CARI records and could not expunge them. After further briefing and argument, the judge again reversed herself, reinstating the juvenile’s arraignment and vacating the expungement order. The juvenile’s G. L. c. 211, § 3, petition sought relief from this interlocutory ruling. We affirm the judgment. The case is before us on the juvenile’s memorandum and appendix pursuant to S.J.C. Rule 2:21, as amended, 434 Mass. 1301 (2001), which requires a party challenging an interlocutory ruling of the trial court to “set forth the reasons why review of the trial court decision cannot adequately be obtained on appeal from any final adverse judgment in the trial court or by other available means.” The juvenile has not met his burden under the rule. He argues that review in the ordinary appellate process would not be adequate because he would irrevocably lose the opportunity to have the complaint dismissed without creating a CARI record. We have recently rejected similar arguments in determining that there was no absolute right to immediate interlocutory review, pursuant to G. L. c. 211, § 3, of the denial of a motion to dismiss. See […]