Commonwealth v. Beal (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-070-16)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-11938 COMMONWEALTH vs. DAUNTE BEAL.[1] Suffolk. December 10, 2015. – May 24, 2016. Present: Gants, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Duffly, Lenk, & Hines, JJ. Firearms. Assault and Battery by Means of a Dangerous Weapon. Assault by Means of a Dangerous Weapon. Practice, Criminal, Duplicative convictions, Sentence. Evidence, Prior violent conduct. Due Process of Law, Vagueness of statute. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on November 14, 2008, and January 30, 2009. The cases were tried before Thomas E. Connolly, J. The Supreme Judicial Court granted an application for direct appellate review. Jessica L. LaClair for the defendant. Teresa K. Anderson, Assistant District Attorney (Joseph F. Janezic, III, Assistant District Attorney, with her) for the Commonwealth. DUFFLY, J. This case arises from a shooting that occurred at a cookout in the Dorchester section of Boston on a summer night in 2008. The defendant was convicted by a Superior Court jury on indictments charging unlawful possession of a firearm, G. L. c. 269, § 10 (a); unlawful possession of ammunition, G. L. c. 269, § 10 (h); carrying a loaded firearm, G. L. c. 269, § 10 (n); assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, G. L. c. 265,§ 15A; and two counts of assault by means of a dangerous weapon, G. L. c. 265, § 15B (b).[2] The indictments charging unlawful possession of a firearm also alleged that the defendant previously had been convicted of two violent crimes and thus was subject to enhanced penalties under the Massachusetts armed career criminal act, G. L. c. 269, § 10G (ACCA). In a separate trial following these convictions, the same jury found the defendant guilty of the subsequent offender portions of the indictments. The defendant appealed from his convictions, and we allowed his application for direct appellate review. The defendant argues that (1) the evidence was insufficient to prove assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury; (2) the convictions of two counts of assault by means of a dangerous weapon were duplicative of the conviction of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury; and (3) the conviction of possession of ammunition is duplicative of the conviction of possession of a loaded firearm. He also contends that the evidence presented by the Commonwealth in support of his prior convictions was insufficient […]