Commonwealth v. Dragotta (and one companion case) (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-021-16)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 14-P-1796 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. HEATHER DRAGOTTA (and one companion case[1]). No. 14-P-1796. Essex. January 12, 2016. – February 25, 2016. Present: Kafker, C.J., Cohen, & Blake, JJ. Assault and Battery. Wanton or Reckless Conduct. Parent and Child, Duty to prevent harm. Child Abuse. Practice, Criminal, Hearsay, Witness. Evidence, Expert opinion, Hearsay. Witness, Expert. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on October 1, 2010. The cases were heard by Richard E. Welch, III, J. Jacob B. Stone for Steven Amos. Patrick Levin, Committee for Public Counsel Services, for Heather Dragotta. Marcia H. Slingerland, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. KAFKER, C.J. After a joint jury-waived trial in the Superior Court, defendant Heather Dragotta was convicted of wantonly or recklessly permitting another to commit an assault and battery upon her infant daughter causing bodily injury (head injury), and defendant Steven Amos was convicted on three indictments charging assault and battery upon the same child causing bodily injury (two rib fractures, head injury, and arm fracture).[2] On appeal, Dragotta and Amos both claim that the evidence was insufficient to sustain their convictions, and Amos adds that the expert testimony exceeded the permitted scope of such evidence. Sufficiency of the evidence. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the judge was warranted in finding the following. E.g., Commonwealth v. Latimore, 378 Mass. 671, 677-678 (1979). The victim was born on April 27, 2010, without any complications. Dragotta is the victim’s mother. Amos was Dragotta’s boyfriend but not the father of the child. On the evening of June 3, 2010, Dragotta and Amos brought the five and one-half week old infant to the Lawrence General Hospital emergency room because she was not using her right arm and cried when it was touched. The X-rays taken at the hospital showed that not only was the victim’s right arm fractured, but that her left arm was bowing. The fracture of the right arm was a displaced transverse fracture, meaning that the fracture went entirely across the bone and the two ends were slightly offset. These findings prompted the hospital to file a report of abuse with the Department of Children and Families (DCF), pursuant to G. L. c. 119, § 51A (51A report). The victim was transferred to Boston Children’s Hospital, and Dr. […]