Souza v. Commonwealth (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-199-15)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-11941 ROBERT M. SOUZA vs. COMMONWEALTH. December 11, 2015. Supreme Judicial Court, Superintendence of inferior courts. It appears from the sparse material before us, and from our review of the trial court docket, that the petitioner was convicted in the District Court in August, 2013, of four counts of violating an abuse prevention order. He was sentenced in November, 2013. His direct appeal was entered in the Appeals Court in September, 2014, and is currently pending there. The petitioner is represented by counsel in that appeal. In May, 2015, the petitioner, acting on his own, filed a pleading in the county court entitled “Petition to Remand Sentence for Resentencing.” He averred in a supporting affidavit, among other things, that his sentences were “unduly harsh” and “much [too] severe all facts considered.” He also averred that his conviction was the product of ineffective assistance of his trial counsel. He asked that a single justice of this court “review and reconsider the sentence[s].” His petition was treated by the single justice as a petition pursuant to G. L. c. 211, § 3, and denied without a hearing. He now appeals from the judgment of the single justice. The single justice neither erred nor abused her discretion in denying the petition. A defendant in these circumstances can challenge the legality of his or her sentence, and the constitutional effectiveness of his or her counsel, through the normal course of postconviction motions and appeals. Beyond that, a defendant is not entitled to the extraordinary intervention of this court to vacate or change a sentence that is legal but that the defendant feels is too harsh. Judgment affirmed. The case was submitted on briefs. Robert M. Souza, pro se. Full-text Opinions
Souza, petitioner (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-024-15)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-1052 Appeals Court GEORGE SOUZA, petitioner. No. 13-P-1052. Suffolk. June 3, 2014. – March 18, 2015. Present: Kantrowitz, Milkey, & Hanlon, JJ. Sex Offender. Practice, Civil, Sex offender, Directed verdict, Instructions to jury. Evidence, Sex offender, Expert opinion. Petition filed in the Superior Court Department on February 2, 2009. The case was tried before Diane M. Kottmyer, J. Mary P. Murray for the Commonwealth. Michael A. Nam-Krane for the petitioner. HANLON, J. George Souza filed a petition in Superior Court seeking release from his civil confinement as a “sexually dangerous person” (SDP). See G. L. c. 123A, § 9. At trial, the jury was unable to reach a verdict and, thereafter, the trial judge allowed Souza’s motion for a directed verdict of not guilty. The Commonwealth appeals, arguing there was sufficient evidence to permit a retrial. We agree and reverse. Background. We recite the evidence heard by the jury in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth. Commonwealth v. Cowen, 452 Mass. 757, 763 (2008). Souza has a significant adult criminal record, extending over a period from 1963 until his last conviction in 2000.[1] In 1971, he pled guilty in New York to “rape in the second degree” for having “engaged in sexual intercourse with . . . [a] female less than . . . fourteen years of age.”[2] Souza has maintained that the victim was working as a “prostitute” at the time, that she looked eighteen to him, and that she agreed to engage in sex with him. Nevertheless, in one interview, he also stated, “[A] little girl came . . . it was my fault . . . this little child . . . I should never [have] went with this child.” When asked how old the girl had been, he said, “I have no idea . . . I don’t even want to guess.” He was then twenty-seven years old. On another occasion, in 2011, Souza asserted that the police entered the room where he was with the victim “before any sexual activity took place.” More recently, in a group therapy session in 2012, Souza, discussing the New York offense, told the group that he had “engag[ed] in sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old prostitute . . . [and] that she did not look 15 because they […]