Commonwealth v. Correia (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-080-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 12‑P‑962 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. JOSE F. CORREIA, THIRD. No. 12‑P‑962. Plymouth. April 18, 2013. ‑ June 21, 2013. Present: Green, Carhart, & Agnes, JJ. Motor Vehicle, Operating to endanger, Citation for violation of motor vehicle law. Practice, Criminal, Citation for violation of motor vehicle laws, Dismissal. Complaint received and sworn to in the Plymouth Division of the District Court Department on May 4, 2010. A motion to dismiss was heard by Thomas S. Barrett, J., and the case was heard by Christopher D. Welch, J. Ellen King for the defendant. Gail M. McKenna, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. AGNES, J. On appeal from his conviction of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, G. L. c. 90, § 24(2)(a), the defendant claims error in the denial of his motion to dismiss the complaint. The sole question presented by this appeal is whether a citation for an automobile law violation witnessed by an off-duty State police trooper on a Saturday afternoon, and delivered in hand to the defendant on the following Tuesday morning, at the close of the trooper’s first shift after returning to work, was delivered in a timely manner. The governing statute, G. L. c. 90C, § 2, provides that, in most situations, citations should be delivered to the alleged offender at the time and place of the violation. We affirm. Background. The essential facts are not in dispute. On September 26, 2009, off-duty State police Trooper Thomas Fitzpatrick (trooper) observed a motor vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed on a dirt road in the Myles Standish State Forest in Plymouth. The posted speed limit was twenty miles per hour on one stretch of the road and only ten miles per hour on another stretch near a Boy Scouts camp. The trooper estimated the motor vehicle driven by the defendant reached speeds of up to fifty miles per hour in these areas. The trooper had to pull his motor vehicle off the road to avoid being struck by the defendant’s motor vehicle, and he observed several other drivers do the same to avoid a collision. The trooper followed the defendant to a nearby Department of Youth Services facility. The trooper was off duty and not in uniform. Initially, the defendant was not cooperative. The trooper asked to speak to […]