Doyle v. Commonwealth (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-110-15)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 SJC-11787 CHRISTOPHER S. DOYLE vs. COMMONWEALTH. July 6, 2015. Supreme Judicial Court, Superintendence of inferior courts. Habeas Corpus. Practice, Criminal, Sentence, Double jeopardy, Duplicative convictions, Assistance of counsel. Christopher S. Doyle (petitioner) appeals from a judgment of a single justice of this court summarily denying relief on his petition filed pursuant to G. L. c. 211, § 3. We affirm. After a jury trial, the petitioner was convicted of breaking into a depository in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony, in violation of G. L. c. 266, § 16; possession of burglarious tools, in violation of G. L. c. 266, § 49; and malicious destruction of property, in violation of G. L. c. 266, § 127. The Appeals Court affirmed the first two convictions and reversed the malicious destruction of property conviction. See Commonwealth v. Doyle, 83 Mass. App. Ct. 384, 393 (2013). A Superior Court judge thereafter granted a motion to dismiss the petitioner’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus. There is no indication on the trial court docket that he appealed from that ruling. Instead, the petitioner filed his G. L. c. 211, § 3, petition in the county court requesting that his convictions be vacated and that he immediately be released from confinement.[1] The petition alleged that the Superior Court judge erred in dismissing the writ without an evidentiary hearing; that the convictions violated his right against double jeopardy because the same underlying conduct formed the basis for revocation of his probation in an unrelated matter; that the convictions are duplicative and the sentences are unlawful; and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel at trial and on appeal. The single justice neither erred nor abused his discretion in denying relief. To the extent the petition can be viewed as seeking relief under G. L. c. 211, § 3, the errors claimed in the petition either were or could have been raised in the petitioner’s direct appeal, or in a motion for postconviction relief under Mass. R. Crim. P. 30, as appearing in 435 Mass. 1501 (2001).[2],[3] See Englehart v. Commissioner of Correction, 453 Mass. 1007, 1007 (2009); Hicks v. Commissioner of Correction, 425 Mass. 1014, 1014-1015 (1997). Where adequate remedies alternative to G. L. c. 211, § 3, are available, relief properly is denied. To the extent the petition […]
Commonwealth v. Doyle (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-039-13)
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 11‑P‑1779 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. CHRISTOPHER DOYLE. No. 11‑P‑1779. Suffolk. October 11, 2012. ‑ March 4, 2013. Present: Graham, Vuono, & Hanlon, JJ. Breaking and Entering. Burglarious Implements. Destruction of Property. Malicious Injury to Property. Malice. Evidence, Hearsay, State of police knowledge. Constitutional Law, Confrontation of witnesses. Practice, Criminal, Hearsay, Confrontation of witnesses, Instructions to jury. Complaint received and sworn to in the Dorchester Division of the Boston Municipal Court Department on October 26, 2010. The case was tried before Robert E. Baylor, J. Patricia E. Muse (Daniel J. Procaccini with her) for the defendant. Taylor Shutt (Donna Jalbert Patalano, Assistant District Attorney, with her) for the Commonwealth. HANLON, J. After a jury trial, the defendant, Christopher Doyle, was convicted of breaking into a depository in the nighttime with intent to commit a felony, possession of burglarious tools, and malicious destruction of property over $ 250.[1] On appeal, he contends that (1) the Commonwealth presented insufficient evidence to prove that the object of the breaking, an automated teller machine (ATM), was a functioning depository, or to prove that its destruction was malicious, (2) the admission of hearsay statements made by a nontestifying witness violated the defendant’s confrontation rights under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, (3) the trial judge failed to give necessary instructions as requested on the issues of deficiencies in the police investigation and a missing witness, and (4) the trial judge abused his discretion when he refused the defendant’s request that he reinstruct the jury on reasonable doubt when answering a jury question. We affirm the breaking into a depository and possession of burglarious tools convictions and reverse the malicious destruction of property conviction. 1. Background. The jury heard the following evidence. At 3:00 A.M. on October 26, 2010, the Boston police department received a call for a bank alarm tripped at the ATM in the vestibule of the Meetinghouse Hill Bank in the Dorchester section of Boston. When Officers Omar Cepeda and Eddy Pena arrived, they looked through the glass window of the bank and saw that the cover of the ATM was lifted. A man on a bicycle, later identified as Matthew Pickett, immediately approached them and pointed to the defendant “maybe 25 to 50 feet away” walking up the […]