Commonwealth v. Mejia (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-132-15)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 11-P-945 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. BROWNING M. MEJIA. No. 11-P-945. Barnstable. December 4, 2014. – September 8, 2015. Present: Cohen, Fecteau, & Massing, JJ. Assault and Battery by Means of a Dangerous Weapon. Evidence, Admissions and confessions, Relevancy and materiality, Telephone conversation, Joint enterprise. Firearms. Imprisonment, Inmate telephone calls. Telephone. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on June 12, 2009. The cases were tried before Gary A. Nickerson, J. Rosemary Curran Scapicchio (Jillise McDonough with her) for the defendant. Elizabeth A. Sweeney, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. COHEN, J. On a cold, snowy evening in January, 2009, a group of unidentified individuals dressed in black opened fire on a Chevrolet Impala parked on Pontiac Street in Hyannis. The occupants of the vehicle, two men and two women, were awaiting the return of the defendant, Browning Mejia, to complete a drug transaction. Both of the male occupants were shot and wounded; the female occupants were unharmed. In connection with this incident, the defendant was indicted on two counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, pursuant to G. L. c. 265. § 15A(b), and four counts of armed assault with intent to murder, pursuant to G. L. c. 265, § 18(b). At the conclusion of the defendant’s Superior Court trial, the case was submitted to the jury on joint venture instructions in accordance with Commonwealth v. Zanetti, 454 Mass. 449, 467-468 (2009). The jury found the defendant guilty of both counts of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, and not guilty of the remaining charges. On appeal, the defendant’s principal claims relate to the admission of evidence of a handgun linked to the shooting, and the admission of excerpts from recorded telephone calls that he made from jail. We affirm. Background. We briefly summarize the trial evidence relevant to the issues presented, reserving further details for later discussion. On January 15, 2009, Christine Ferreira, Kristen Asack, Tom Walwer, and Neiyamia (Neil) Jackson spent the late afternoon and early evening together, driving from place to place in Walwer’s black Chevrolet Impala.[1] After going to the Cape Cod Mall, the group decided to buy some marijuana. Ferreira and Asack both knew the defendant socially and, as corroborated by telephone company records, called his cellular telephone (cell phone) to arrange to […]