Disclosure of address not unconstitutional

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It was not unconstitutional for the Department of Children and Families to provide a juvenile rape suspect’s address to law enforcement, the Appeals Court has ruled.

Police suspected 15-year-old Demetrius D., a foster child, of beating and raping an 11-year-old trick-or-treater on Halloween night. They learned from his foster father that Demetrius was in the custody of the Department of Children and Families and that earlier that afternoon, DCF had moved Demetrius to a new foster home in another town. The foster father knew the name of the town, but not the street address. The police contacted DCF, which disclosed the address to them.

Demetrius’s new foster mother invited the police into the home and led them to his bedroom, where they observed several bags. The police seized the bags and obtained a warrant to search them, which revealed Demetrius’s costume and Halloween candy.

Demetrius was convicted as a youthful offender of aggravated rape of a child with force, kidnapping, indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, intimidation of a witness and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, to wit, a shod foot.

He argued on appeal, among other things, that the items seized from his bedroom at the second foster home should have been suppressed because the seizure resulted from DCF’s disclosure of his address, which he contends DCF was required to hold confidential under 110 Code Mass. Regs. sectionsection12.00 (2008) and related statutes.

An Appeals Court panel disagreed.

“Since the reported abuse resulted in sexual assault or physical abuse involving evidence that was in danger of being destroyed, the department was required to release the juvenile’s address,” Judge Gabrielle R. Wolohojian wrote for the panel.

“In these circumstances, the police cannot be said to have done anything wrong when they contacted the department to learn the address of the juvenile’s new foster home — information that, as we noted above, does not enjoy constitutional protection.”

Accordingly, the Appeals Court affirmed the convictions.

The 19-page decision is Commonwealth v. Demetrius D., a juvenile, Lawyers Weekly No. 11-121-18.

Click here to read the full text of the opinion.