Commonwealth v. Wilson (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-118-16)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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-1607 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. JASON WILSON. No. 14-P-1607. Plymouth. March 24, 2016. – September 8, 2016. Present: Hanlon, Sullivan, & Maldonado, JJ. Motor Vehicle, Operating under the influence, License to operate. Notice. Practice, Criminal, Required finding. Complaint received and sworn to in the Brockton Division of the District Court Department on February 16, 2012. The case was heard by Mary L. Amrhein, J. Max Bauer for the defendant. Mary E. Lee, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. HANLON, J. After a jury-waived trial in the District Court, the defendant was convicted of operating a motor vehicle after his license or right to operate had been suspended for operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor (OUI). See G. L. c. 90, § 23, third par. He appeals, arguing that his motion for a required finding of not guilty was wrongfully denied because the Commonwealth failed to prove that he had notice that his license had been suspended. We affirm. At trial, the Commonwealth called one witness and offered one exhibit; the underlying facts are not in dispute. Trooper John Santos of the Massachusetts State Police testified that, on January 30, 2012, at approximately 8 P.M., he was observing traffic on Spark Street on the north side of Brockton. He saw a white Cadillac with a defective tail light and a damaged brake light. He stopped the car and asked the driver for his license and registration. The driver, later identified as the defendant, produced a registration for the car and said that his name was Jason Wilson. He also told the trooper his date of birth and current address. He never produced a Massachusetts driver’s license. The trooper, after checking with the Registry of Motor Vehicles on his “mobile data terminal,” gave the defendant a summons for the civil motor vehicle infractions and also for “operating with a suspended license.” After the trooper’s testimony, the Commonwealth offered a certified copy of a docket sheet, number 1106 CR 2028, showing that on January 11, 2012, nineteen days before the defendant was stopped by Trooper Santos, the defendant had appeared in the West Roxbury Division of the Boston Municipal Court and admitted that there were facts sufficient to support a finding of guilty on a charge of […]