Commonwealth v. Aldrich (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-120-15)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 12-P-787 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. ROBERT ALDRICH (NO. 1). No. 12-P-787. Middlesex. March 4, 2015. – August 26, 2015. Present: Cohen, Hanlon, & Sullivan, JJ. Larceny. Attempt. Practice, Criminal, Duplicative convictions. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on February 7, 2008. The cases were tried before Christopher J. Muse, J., and a motion for a new trial was considered by him. Robert Herrick for the defendant. Kevin J. Curtin, Assistant District Attorney (Nicole Allain, Assistant District Attorney, with him) for the Commonwealth. SULLIVAN, J. The defendant, Robert Aldrich, appeals from his convictions of unarmed burglary in the nighttime (count I), two counts of larceny over $ 250 (counts II and III), attempted larceny (count IV),[1] and from the order denying his motion for new trial. He contends that the two larceny convictions are duplicative, and that his conviction of attempted larceny is duplicative of one of the larceny convictions. We conclude that the two larceny convictions are not duplicative because the facts support two convictions based on two separate takings. We further conclude that attempted larceny is a lesser included offense of larceny, and that, on the facts presented, the attempted larceny conviction is duplicative of one of the larceny convictions.[2] Background. On January 6, 2008, at approximately 5:30 A.M., a 911 dispatcher received a telephone call from the owner of a single-family home in Cambridge. The caller relayed that she had been awakened by the sound of a door closing and, upon investigation, had found an uninvited man in her home. Two police officers observed a man, later identified as the defendant, at the front door of the caller’s home, along with a stack of items on the front porch that later were identified as the homeowner’s possessions. As the officers approached, the defendant slammed the front door and ran inside toward the back of the house. Other police officers at the rear of the house then saw the defendant jump through an open window “Superman-style” and land face down in the snow. The police found an eyeglass screwdriver underneath the defendant. An officer on the scene compared the screwdriver with marks found near the latch of the window, and testified that the marks were consistent with the screwdriver found underneath the defendant. After the defendant’s arrest, the […]