Commonwealth v. Bowen (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-022-18)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 16-P-1413 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. JAMES M. BOWEN. No. 16-P-1413. Norfolk. October 4, 2017. – February 23, 2018. Present: Green, Hanlon, & Neyman, JJ. Due Process of Law, Probation revocation, Hearing. Practice, Criminal, Revocation of probation, Probation, Stipulation, Waiver, Assistance of counsel, Sentence, Waiver. Waiver. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on September 2, 1999. A proceeding for revocation of probation was heard by Thomas A. Connors, J.; a motion to reconsider was considered by Douglas Wilkins, J.; and a motion for a new hearing was heard by Connors, J. Stacey Gross Marmor for the defendant. Tracey A. Cusick, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. NEYMAN, J. In Commonwealth v. Sayyid, 86 Mass. App. Ct. 479 (2014), this court held that a defendant’s agreement to waive a probation violation hearing must be knowing and voluntary. Id. at 480, 489. Here, we are asked to determine whether a defendant’s stipulation during a probation violation hearing to two alleged violations constituted a breach of due process within the meaning of Sayyid. We hold that the stipulation did not fall within the ambit of Sayyid, and we discern no due process violation. Accordingly, we affirm. Background. 1. Convictions and alleged probation violations. In 2001, the defendant pleaded guilty in Superior Court to six counts of aggravated rape. He was sentenced to concurrent terms of eight to ten years in State prison on the first five counts, and a twelve-year sentence of probation to be served from and after the State prison sentences on the sixth count.[1] The defendant was released from custody in September, 2010, and began serving the twelve-year probation sentence. In June, 2013, the defendant was issued a “Notice of Surrender and hearing(s) for alleged violation(s) of Probation” (notice of probation violation). He stipulated that he had violated the probation conditions, and his probation was extended for an additional year with modified conditions. In October, 2013, the defendant was issued another notice of probation violation. Following a probation violation hearing in December, 2013, the defendant was again found to have violated the probation conditions, but he was still not incarcerated. Instead, his probation was further extended to 2030 with added conditions. On April 16, 2014, a third notice of probation violation was issued and […]