Commonwealth v. Humberto H., a juvenile (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-193-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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‑11297 COMMONWEALTH vs. HUMBERTO H., a juvenile. Suffolk. September 9, 2013. ‑ November 26, 2013. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Gants, Duffly, & Lenk, JJ. Controlled Substances. Probable Cause. Juvenile Court, Delinquent child. Supreme Judicial Court, Jurisdiction. Evidence, Juvenile delinquency, Intent. Intent. Practice, Criminal, Juvenile delinquency proceeding, Complaint, Dismissal, Arraignment, Judicial discretion. Complaint received and sworn to in the Suffolk County Division of the Juvenile Court Department on January 24, 2011. A motion to dismiss was heard by Leslie E. Harris, J. The Supreme Judicial Court granted an application for direct appellate review. Donna Jalbert Patalano, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. Emily A. Cardy, Committee for Public Counsel Services, for the juvenile. Robert E. McDonnell, Deana K. El-Mallawany, & Nathaniel P. Bruhn, for American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts & others, amici curiae, submitted a brief. GANTS, J. A Juvenile Court judge allowed the juvenile’s motion to dismiss a delinquency complaint charging one count of possession of a class D substance (marijuana) with intent to distribute after concluding that the complaint was not supported by probable cause that the juvenile intended to distribute the marijuana in his possession. The judge declared that, where a complaint is to be dismissed, he believed it “offensive to arraign a child . . . just to put it on the child’s record,” but concluded that he was obliged to arraign the juvenile before dismissing the complaint. The Commonwealth appealed the dismissal of the complaint. We affirm the judge’s dismissal of the delinquency complaint, concluding that the information in the complaint application fell short of probable cause to believe that the juvenile intended to distribute the marijuana in his possession. We also declare that a Juvenile Court judge, in his or her discretion, may allow a motion to dismiss before the arraignment of a juvenile where the judge concludes that prearraignment dismissal is in both the best interests of the child and the interests of justice., Background. We describe the facts as set forth in the police incident report filed in support of the application for the complaint. On January 24, 2011, a Boston school police officer and the dean of discipline (dean) of a Boston high school were posted at the back door of the high school’s cafeteria, monitoring students who […]