Commonwealth v. Doe (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-180-16)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 15-P-348 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. JUAN DOE.[1] No. 15-P-348. Middlesex. October 4, 2016. – December 28, 2016. Present: Cypher, Cohen, & Green, JJ. Criminal Records. Criminal Offender Record Information. Practice, Criminal, Record, Nolle prosequi. Indictment found and returned in the Superior Court Department on June 10, 2010. After the entry of a nolle prosequi, a petition to seal the record, filed on October 7, 2014, was heard by Kathe M. Tuttman, J. J.W. Carney, Jr., for the defendant. Jamie Michael Charles, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. COHEN, J. Juan Doe appeals from an order of a judge of the Superior Court denying his petition to seal his criminal record in a case terminated by a nolle prosequi. We infer from the order that, in balancing the interests of the public and the defendant, as required by Commonwealth v. Pon, 469 Mass. 296 (2014), the judge may have relied upon a factor that is inconsistent with Pon‘s revised standard for discretionary sealing, and may have placed too much importance on another factor that was of limited concern in the circumstances. For those reasons, and for the additional reason that there has been a material change in circumstances since the petition was denied,[2] we vacate the order and remand for reconsideration. Background. In June, 2010, Doe was indicted for murder in the first degree in connection with the death of his six month old son. The Commonwealth’s theory was that the child had died as a result of abusive head trauma commonly known as shaken baby syndrome;[3] however, while the case was pending, it was learned that Doe’s wife and her family had a previously unknown history of collagen vascular disease, a genetic condition that was relevant to determining the child’s cause of death. This information was supplied to the prosecution and the medical examiner, who, in August, 2014, revised his ruling on the manner of death from “homicide” to “could not be determined.” Shortly thereafter, on September 18, 2014, the Commonwealth filed a nolle prosequi, stating that it could not “meet its burden of proving cause of death beyond a reasonable doubt when the revised ruling is considered in light of all the circumstances of this case.” On October 7, 2014, Doe filed a petition, pursuant to […]
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Service Employees International Union, Local 509 v. Department of Mental Health, et al. (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-180-16)
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 SJC-12035 SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION, LOCAL 509 vs. DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH & others.[1] Suffolk. September 6, 2016. – November 22, 2016. Present: Gants, C.J., Botsford, Lenk, Hines, Gaziano, Lowy, & Budd, JJ. Privatization Act. Commissioner of Mental Health. Commonwealth, Contracts. Contract, Validity. Public Employment. Laches. Practice, Civil, Judgment on the pleadings. Civil action commenced in the Superior Court Department on February 15, 2012. Following review by this court, 469 Mass. 323 (2014), the case was heard by Janet L. Sanders, J., on motions for judgment on the pleadings. The Supreme Judicial Court granted an application for direct appellate review. Ian O. Russell (Katherine D. Shea with him) for the plaintiff. Iraida J. Álvarez, Assistant Attorney General, for Department of Mental Health. Carl Valvo & Ariel G. Sullivan, for Advocates, Inc., & others, were present but did not argue. Mark G. Matuschak & Robert Kingsley Smith, for Pioneer Institute, Inc., were present but did not argue. Anita S. Lichtblau & Robert E. Cowden, III, for Massachusetts Council of Human Services Providers, Inc., & others, amici curiae, submitted a brief. LENK, J. This is the second time that the plaintiff labor union appeals from dismissal of the declaratory judgment action it first brought against the Department of Mental Health (DMH or agency) in 2012. Service Employees International Union, Local 509 (SEIU or union) maintains that certain contracts DMH made in 2009 with private vendors are “privatization contracts” subject to the requirements of the Pacheco Law, G. L. c. 7, §§ 52-55. The Pacheco Law establishes certain prerequisites that agencies must meet when seeking to enter into privatization contracts. Because DMH had determined that the subject contracts were not privatization contracts, however, it did not comply with those statutory prerequisites. In bringing this action, the union seeks, among other things, a declaration invalidating the contracts on the basis of G. L. c. 7, § 54 (§ 54), which provides that no privatization contract “shall be valid” where an agency did not follow the necessary procedures. In our previous decision in this case, Service Employees Int’l Union, Local 509 v. Department of Mental Health, 469 Mass. 323, 324 (2014) (SEIU I), we rejected DMH’s contention that the union lacked standing to challenge, in a declaratory judgment action, the agency’s unilateral determination that the contracts were not […]