Summary
This Superior Court memorandum and order addresses the Commonwealth's motion to join two defendants and their respective indictments for trial. The court granted the motion in part, allowing a joint trial for charges arising from a June 2023 domestic disturbance involving physical assaults. However, the court denied the motion regarding sexual assault charges filed solely against defendant Melvin Riley, ordering a separate trial to prevent prejudicial spillover onto defendant Samantha Rogers.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether joinder of the defendants for the assault, battery, strangulation, and weapon charges is proper under Mass. R. Crim. P. 9.
- Whether the sexual assault charges against Riley must be severed from the other charges.
Holdings
- Joinder of the defendants for those charges is proper because the offenses arise from the same criminal conduct and there is no antagonistic prejudice.
- The sexual assault charges against Riley must be tried separately because joinder would create significant prejudice and is not in the best interests of justice.
Key quotations
“It is presumed that "[w]hen criminal charges against two or more individuals arise out of the same criminal conduct," those individuals will be tried together.” (167-168)
“Trying multiple defendants together when the indictments against them arise from the same events expedites the administration of justice, reduces the congestion of trial dockets, conserves judicial time, lessens the burden upon citizens who must sacrifice time and energy to serve upon juries, and avoids the necessity of recalling witnesses to successive trials.” (789-790)
“A judge may order severance "[i]f it appears that a joinder of defendants is not in the best interests of justice."” (137)
Factual background
On June 17, 2023, police responded to a domestic disturbance at a home where a 15‑year‑old girl, M.M., reported being choked and assaulted by her mother, Samantha Rogers, and Rogers' boyfriend, Melvin Riley. The defendants forcibly took a cellphone from M.M., and Rogers later struck M.M. with a belt. Subsequent interviews revealed a pattern of sexual abuse by Riley dating back to when M.M. was six years old.
Procedural history
The Commonwealth moved to join the two defendants and all offenses for a single trial; the Superior Court considered the motion and issued an order allowing joinder in part and denying it in part.
Remand instructions
Charges 2477CR0076-001 through -003 and 2477CR0077-001 and -002 shall be tried together; charges 2477CR0077-003 through -009 shall be tried separately.