Most people accused of a misdemeanor in Massachusetts get a hearing almost nobody knows exists, in a room the public is not allowed to enter, before a court official who is not a judge. If it goes well for them, no charge is ever filed and no record is ever created.
That hearing is what stood between the mayor of Brockton and a criminal charge this month. Unusually, it happened in public, and the reason it did says a lot about how the system actually works.
What a show cause hearing is
Under G.L. c. 218, § 35A, when someone applies for a criminal complaint on a misdemeanor and the accused was not arrested, the accused is entitled to notice and an opportunity to be heard before any charge issues. A clerk-magistrate, not a judge, presides.
The standard is probable cause, which is far below the standard at trial. The clerk decides whether there is enough to believe an offense was committed. If the answer is no, the application is denied and nothing enters the defendant’s record. If yes, a complaint issues and the case becomes an ordinary criminal prosecution.
Roughly speaking, this is the diversion valve of the district court system. A great many minor cases end here, quietly, which is the point.
Our full explainer on the procedure is here.
Why they are closed
The default is secrecy, and the reasoning is not sinister. The hearing exists to decide whether someone should be charged at all. Holding it in public would attach the stigma of an accusation to a person the system may be about to clear.
The Supreme Judicial Court settled the legal question in 2007 in Eagle-Tribune Publishing Co. v. Clerk-Magistrate, holding there is no First Amendment or common-law right of public access to these hearings. Clerk-magistrates have discretion.
The critical structural detail is who the secrecy belongs to. It exists for the benefit of the accused. That means the accused can give it up.
The system has been criticized for exactly that design. A Boston Globe Spotlight investigation documented that the private hearings produced wildly uneven outcomes, and that people with connections fared conspicuously better. In 2019 the SJC responded by requiring clerk-magistrates to make audio recordings of every show cause hearing and retain them for a year, with the public able to request them where the interests of justice require. The Court declined to make the hearings presumptively public.
More recently, in 2024, the SJC upheld a clerk-magistrate’s decision to open show cause hearings in a high-profile prostitution case after news organizations petitioned for access, on the ground that public interest justified it.
The Brockton case
Mayor Moises Rodrigues, elected in 2025 as the city’s first Black mayor after more than a decade as a councilor-at-large, was accused of assault and battery arising from an allegation that he touched a seventeen-year-old high school student without her consent during a parade in Brockton in May. The allegation became public in June when the student’s mother interrupted his speech at the high school’s graduation ceremony.
A harassment prevention order was issued in June and was not extended after a hearing later that month. State Police, working with the Plymouth County District Attorney’s office, applied for a criminal complaint in early July. The application was moved from Brockton District Court to Wrentham District Court in Norfolk County, a routine step to avoid any appearance of a conflict when the accused is a local official.
Clerk-Magistrate Pamela Gauvin-Fernandes heard the matter on August 7. The student testified. So did Rodrigues, who said he had no memory of the interaction. There was video from the parade and testimony from a State Police investigator. On August 14 the clerk-magistrate found probable cause.
Rodrigues denies wrongdoing and remains in office.
The part worth understanding
The hearing was public because Rodrigues asked for it to be.
News organizations had sought access. But the clerk-magistrate’s stated reasoning went to the structure of the rule rather than to media interest: exclusion of the public at a show cause hearing is for the benefit of the accused, and the accused wanted it open. She noted separately that he is a public figure and that the matter had already drawn substantial attention.
That is the cleanest route to an open hearing in Massachusetts, and it is available in every one of these cases. A defendant who believes the accusation is false and wants that demonstrated publicly can waive the protection. Almost nobody does, for the obvious reason that most people accused of something would rather it stay quiet, and their lawyers advise accordingly.
The calculation changes when the accused holds office. For an elected official, a secret proceeding that ends in a probable cause finding is arguably worse than a public one, because the outcome leaks anyway and the process cannot be defended. Openness was the strategically rational choice, and it also happens to be the transparent one.
What happens next in a case like this
A probable cause finding at a show cause hearing is not a conviction, and it is not a trial. It means the threshold for issuing a complaint has been met. From there the matter proceeds as an ordinary criminal case, with arraignment, discovery, and a trial at which the burden is proof beyond a reasonable doubt rather than probable cause.
For anyone who receives a show cause notice in the mail, the practical lessons from this case are worth stating plainly. The hearing matters enormously, because it is the one chance to stop a charge before it exists. You may bring a lawyer. You may present evidence and witnesses, not merely argue. And the proceeding is private unless you decide otherwise.
Common questions
Are show cause hearings public in Massachusetts?
No. They are closed by default. The Supreme Judicial Court held in 2007 that there is no constitutional or common-law right of public access, leaving the decision to the clerk-magistrate’s discretion.
Can the accused ask for a public hearing?
Yes. The confidentiality exists for the benefit of the accused, so it can be waived, which is what happened in the Brockton case.
Are show cause hearings recorded?
Yes. Since 2019 the SJC has required clerk-magistrates to audio record them and retain the recordings for one year. The public may request a recording where the interests of justice require it.
What does a probable cause finding mean?
It means a criminal complaint may issue. It is not a conviction or a finding of guilt, and the case then proceeds with the ordinary presumption of innocence and a much higher burden of proof.
Do I need a lawyer at a show cause hearing?
You are entitled to have one, and the hearing is often the single best opportunity to prevent a charge from ever being filed.
Moises Rodrigues denies wrongdoing and is presumed innocent. A probable cause finding is not a conviction. This article is general legal information, not legal advice.