Commonwealth v. Leonard (and a companion case) (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-120-16)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-1464 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. JULIE LEONARD (and a companion case[1]). No. 14-P-1464. Essex. February 11, 2016. – September 9, 2016. Present: Kafker, C.J., Rubin, & Agnes, JJ. Assault and Battery by Means of a Dangerous Weapon. Dangerous Weapon. Reckless Endangerment of a Child. Practice, Criminal, Complaint, Dismissal. Probable Cause. Complaints received and sworn to in the Gloucester Division of the District Court Department on January 14 and 17, 2013. Motions to dismiss were heard by Joseph W. Jennings, III, J. Marcia H. Slingerland, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. Matthew Wright Hemond for the defendants. AGNES, J. This is the Commonwealth’s appeal from the dismissal of one count of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon against defendant Julie Leonard, and one count each of child endangerment against defendants Julie Leonard and Mark Leonard.[2] We conclude that the complaints established probable cause for the elements of the crimes charged. Accordingly, we vacate the judgments of dismissal and order that the complaints be reinstated. Background. a. Police report. We recite the facts contained in the police report written by Detective Jeremiah Nicastro of the Gloucester police department in support of his application for the criminal complaints. On the evening of November 30, 2012, a group of youths (ages sixteen and seventeen) were invited to a party at the home of the defendants, Mark and Julie Leonard, the parents of one of the teens. The teens were supplied with alcohol by the twenty-three year old boyfriend of the defendants’ daughter, and were drinking vodka, beer, and tequila when Mark arrived home at 9:30 P.M. Mark joined his daughter and her friends in consuming beer. Julie arrived home around 11:00 P.M. and also joined them, consuming red wine. Mark smoked marijuana with his daughter and her boyfriend, and the drinking continued until around 2:00 A.M. One of the daughter’s friends, Susan,[3] aged sixteen, became “extremely ill and began to throw up” during the early morning hours, and stayed at the defendants’ home overnight. Susan asked Julie, who is a nurse, to take her to the hospital, but Julie explained that “if she [went] to the hospital they [would] give her an IV and put a tube down her throat.” Susan was also concerned that she would get […]