Juvenile – Youthful offender – Transfer

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Where a defendant committed rape on two occasions in 2008, when he was 16 years old, but was not apprehended until 2010, after he turned 18 years of age, his convictions must be vacated because the case commenced in the Juvenile Court Department by means of an indictment and not by a juvenile complaint, in violation of G.L.c. 119, section74.

“The defendant maintains that because the offenses in this case were committed while he was sixteen years of age and a juvenile but he was over the age of eighteen when apprehended, it was necessary to commence the case by means of a delinquency, or juvenile, complaint, and without such a charging document the Juvenile Court lacked the authority to conduct any proceedings, including a transfer hearing, and that the Superior Court lacked the authority to try the indictments. This statement of law is supported by the terms of the applicable statutes and by a series of decisions by the Supreme Judicial Court. …

“The question for us … is the consequence of failing to obtain a juvenile complaint against the defendant who had turned eighteen years of age before he was apprehended but who had the benefit of a transfer hearing that conformed to G.L.c. 119, section72A, in all other respects, an indictment by a grand jury, and a jury trial? The answer, again is supplied by the Supreme Judicial Court in [Commonwealth v. Mogelinski, 466 Mass. 627 (2013)]: ‘Ultimately, the Juvenile Court is a court of limited jurisdiction, which “has no … authority in the absence of a specific statutory authorization.”‘ … Here, without the prior issuance of a juvenile complaint, the Juvenile Court lacked the authority to proceed on a direct indictment of the defendant as a YO and to transfer the defendant’s case to adult court.

“Accordingly, the judgments are vacated, the verdicts are set aside, and the indictments are dismissed.”

Commonwealth v. Mercier (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-098-15) (15 pages) (Agnes, J.) (Appeals Court) Cases tried before Kenton-Walker, J., in Superior Court. Patrick Levin for the defendant; Jessica Langsam for the commonwealth (Docket No. 14-P-550) (Aug. 7, 2015).