Commonwealth v. Lopez (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-091-14)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-750 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. MIGUEL LOPEZ. No. 13-P-750. Hampden. February 6, 2014. – July 30, 2014. Present: Cypher, Graham, & Carhart, JJ. Rape. Assault and Battery. Constitutional Law, Speedy trial. Evidence, Hospital record, Disclosure of evidence. Practice, Criminal, Speedy trial, Discovery, Disclosure of evidence. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on July 27, 2011. A motion to dismiss was heard by C. Jeffrey Kinder, J., and the cases were tried before Bertha D. Josephson, J. David M. Skeels, Committee for Public Counsel Services, for the defendant. Deborah D. Ahlstrom, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. CYPHER, J. The defendant, Miguel Lopez, was convicted by a jury of rape, G. L. c. 265, § 22(b), and assault and battery, G. L. c. 265, § 13A(a). He appeals, claiming (1) that he was prejudiced by the lack of a speedy trial and (2) that the Commonwealth failed to provide mandatory discovery. We affirm. Background. On July 27, 2011, a HampdenCounty grand jury returned indictments against the defendant on the underlying charges. The defendant was arraigned on August 9, 2011, and counsel was appointed. On November 15, 2012, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss on speedy trial grounds, with a supporting memorandum. After a hearing on the motion five days later, the judge denied the motion. A jury trial began on December 11, 2012, after which the defendant was found guilty on both charges. On December 19, 2012, the defendant was sentenced on the rape conviction to a term of not more than ten years, and not less than nine years, to be served at the Massachusetts Correctional Institution at Cedar Junction. On the assault and battery conviction, the defendant was sentenced to the Hampden County house of correction for two and one-half years, the sentence to run concurrently with the sentence to be served on the rape conviction. Facts. A jury could have found the following facts. On July 11, 2010, the victim, Valerie,[1] was living in an apartment with her stepdaughter. The defendant lived upstairs in the same apartment building with his wife, who was out of town at the time. Valerie knew the defendant because he was a good friend of Valerie’s former boyfriend, Frank,[2] who had recently ended their relationship. Valerie was also a friend of the defendant’s wife. At 6:00 A.M. on the […]