Commonwealth v. Hilaire (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-021-18)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 16-P-1528 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. JAMES CHARLES HILAIRE. No. 16-P-1528. Plymouth. October 6, 2017. – February 21, 2018. Present: Wolohojian, Maldonado, & Wendlandt, JJ. Armed Home Invasion. Robbery. Firearms. Constitutional Law, Search and seizure, Reasonable suspicion. Search and Seizure, Reasonable suspicion. Evidence, Judicial notice. Practice, Criminal, Motion to suppress, Findings by judge. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on October 29, 2014. A pretrial motion to suppress evidence was heard by Cornelius J. Moriarty, II, J. An application for leave to prosecute an interlocutory appeal was allowed by Fernande R. V. Duffly, J., in the Supreme Judicial Court for the county of Suffolk, and the appeal was reported by her to the Appeals Court. David D. Nielson for the defendant. Carolyn A. Burbine, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. WOLOHOJIAN, J. At issue is whether there was reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant and search his backpack several hours after an armed home invasion had occurred nearby. Taking judicial notice of demographic data he located on his own initiative, the Superior Court judge concluded there was reasonable suspicion and denied the defendant’s motion to suppress. The demographic data should not have been relied upon, both because the judge should not have expanded the factual record with independent research taken on his own initiative without notice to the parties and because they were not relevant. Nonetheless, we affirm the denial of the motion to suppress because we conclude that the facts elicited at the evidentiary hearing established reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant.[1] On July 29, 2014, at approximately 3:05 A.M., East Bridgewater police responded to the area of 601 North Central Street to investigate a report of an armed home invasion with shots fired.[2] It was reported that a large amount of cash and jewelry had been taken. The suspects were described as several young black males, two of whom were carrying backpacks. There was no further description of the men, their features, or their appearance, except that they were said to be wearing “regular clothes.” A short time after the home invasion, three black men fled from a red Toyota Camry in front of 505 North Central Street, leaving the doors of the vehicle open as they ran into neighboring woods. […]