Commonwealth v. Valentin V., a juvenile (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-015-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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‑317 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. VALENTIN V., a juvenile. No. 12‑P‑317. Berkshire. December 11, 2012. ‑ January 29, 2013. Present: Kafker, Milkey, & Agnes, JJ. Threatening. Assault and Battery. Evidence, Threat. Intimidation of Witness. Witness, Intimidation. Practice, Criminal, Dismissal. Complaints received and sworn to in the Berkshire County Division of the Juvenile Court Department on April 19, 2011. A motion to dismiss was heard by Judith A. Locke, J. John P. Bossé, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. Peter A. Hahn for the juvenile. MILKEY, J. Based on remarks he allegedly made about assaulting a fellow student at his high school, a juvenile faced delinquency complaints that charged him with threatening a crime (assault and battery), G. L. c. 275, § 2, and witness intimidation, G. L. c. 268, § 13B. Over the Commonwealth’s objection, a judge of the Juvenile Court dismissed these charges as unsupported by probable cause. The judge relied on the absence of a showing that the threatening remarks were ever heard by their intended target (to whom we shall refer by the pseudonym “Fred”). On the Commonwealth’s appeal, we reverse. Background. The Commonwealth filed its “Application for Criminal Complaint” based on a police report, which in turn incorporated three witness statements from school officials. According to this material, on the morning of April 6, 2011, Fred walked into a classroom in which the juvenile was already present. The teacher redirected Fred elsewhere, and after he left, the juvenile “tried to leave after [Fred] stating that he was going to ‘kick [Fred’s] ass.’” The apparent source of the conflict between the students had to do with their both being under suspicion for stealing an “Xbox” video game system from the school two weeks earlier. The teacher intercepted the juvenile and convinced him to go speak with other school officials. At that meeting, the juvenile referred to Fred as a “snitch” and stated that “he was going to get him.” After the officials informed the juvenile “that he couldn’t stay in school if he was threatening another student,” the juvenile “said that he wasn’t going to hit [Fred] but, if the other students didn’t give him ‘shit’ for stealing the Xbox he would hit him.” At that point, the focus of the conversation turned to whether the juvenile was armed with […]