Legal Question in Criminal Law in Massachusetts

Re: court procedure

Courts can bring criminal complaints forward in

two ways in Massachusetts: one in district court

and one by indictment, which leads to trial

in a superior court.

For cases brought in district courts, when the

Commonwealth (the prosecution) does not want to

tip its hand as to what evidence it has for

convicting -- as it would have to do were there a

probable cause hearing in district court -- they quickly run to the grand jury, get an indictment on a bologna sandwich, and then

NOL PROS the case in district court and on the

same morning cause an arraignment in superior

court.

It's a procedure done every day across the State.

I do not know whether it has been consitutionally challenged.

Usually the Commonwealth brings the case in

district court when the case is a weak one: for instance,

when it does not yet have all of its eggs in the

basket, and needs to stall for time to gather

evidence.

Re: court procedure

Each crime on the books has a potential sentence set by law. Crimes that carry up to 2.5 years in the house of corrections are handled in District Court. Crimes with sentences more than 2.5 years are handled in Superior Court. Some crimes provide for sentences which may be up to 2.5 years in teh House of Corrections or some period more than 2.5 years in State Prison. These are said to be concurrent juridiction crimes. If they are handled in District Court, the most your sentence can be is 2.5 years in the House of Corrections.

For those crimes that are handled in Superior Court, the Commonwealth gets them there by one of two processes. One, bring the complaint in District Court, and either leave the case there if there is jurisdiction, or "take the case up" to Superior Court, by means of conducting a Probable Cause hearing, or by taking the case to a Grand Jury, and seeking an indictment. The Government gets to choose how to handle the case. If the Grand Jury indicts, then a complaint for Superior Court issues.

Cases in Superior Court, if a conviction is obtained, often result in incarceration for a long time. You need a lawyer, and quick.

Re: court procedure

So long as the crime charged has a possible sentence of over 2.5 years, the District Attorney's Office has the right to seek an indictment. Indictments, unfortunately, are not difficult ot obtain once a grand jury is seated.

so long as it is finished before the probable cause date, then the District Attorney's Office has technically acted within the rules of the courts.

I do suggest you seek an attorney for representation of this Superior Court matter.