Commonwealth v. Ubeira-Gonzalez (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-008-15)

NOTICE:  All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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   13-P-1735                                       Appeals Court   COMMONWEALTH  vs.  FRANCISCO L. UBEIRA-GONZALEZ. No. 13-P-1735. Hampden.     October 2, 2014. – January 22, 2015.   Present:  Grasso, Kantrowitz, & Meade, JJ.     Controlled Substances.  Constitutional Law, Plea, Conduct of government agents.  Due Process of Law, Plea.  Evidence, Guilty plea.  Practice, Criminal, Plea, Conduct of government agents, Assistance of counsel.       Complaints received and sworn to in the Holyoke Division of the District Court Department on October 19 and November 4, 2009.   Motions for a new trial, filed on March 27, 2013, were heard by Philip A. Beattie, J.     Jane Davidson Montori, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. Daniel J. Ciccariello for the defendant.     MEADE, J.  In 2010, the defendant pleaded guilty to several crimes, including possession of a class A controlled substance with the intent to distribute.[1]  In 2012, the defendant was charged in Federal court with distribution of a controlled substance.  Following his arraignment in Federal court, the defendant moved to withdraw his 2010 guilty pleas to his State convictions.  The defendant’s motions were based on alleged misconduct by an assistant analyst at the State laboratory in Amherst (Amherst laboratory).  Without conducting an evidentiary hearing or making findings, the motion judge (who was also the plea judge) allowed the defendant’s motions.  The Commonwealth appeals and claims the judge erred by allowing the motions.  We agree and reverse. 1.  Background.  a.  Procedural history.  In October of 2009, the defendant was charged with possession of a class A controlled substance (October case).  Less than one month later, in November of 2009, the defendant was again charged with possession of a class A controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute a class A controlled substance, resisting arrest, and assault and battery on a police officer (November case).  In February of 2010, the defendant pleaded guilty to the above charges, except for the possession of a class A controlled substance charge in the November case, which the Commonwealth dismissed. In May of 2012, the defendant was charged in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts with distribution of a controlled substance.  In March of 2013, the defendant moved to withdraw his guilty pleas in the October and November cases.  In his affidavits in support of the motions, the defendant claimed that his guilty pleas were not made intelligently […]

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