COMMONWEALTH v. CHRISTOPHER S. PERKINS (And a Companion Case).

• Court: Massachusetts Appeals Court
• Decided: November 26, 2025
• Docket: 24-P-1454
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

NOTICE: Summary decisions issued by the Appeals Court pursuant to M.A.C. Rule 23.0, as appearing in 97 Mass. App. Ct. 1017 (2020) (formerly known as rule 1:28, as amended by 73 Mass. App. Ct. 1001 [2009]), are primarily directed to the parties and, therefore, may not fully address the facts of the case or the panel's decisional rationale. Moreover, such decisions are not circulated to the entire court and, therefore, represent only the views of the panel that decided the case. A summary decision pursuant to rule 23.0 or rule 1:28 issued after February 25, 2008, may be cited for its persuasive value but, because of the limitations noted above, not as binding precedent. See Chace v. Curran, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 258, 260 n.4 (2008).

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

APPEALS COURT

24-P-1454 24-P-1455

COMMONWEALTH

vs.

CHRISTOPHER S. PERKINS (and a companion case1).

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 23.0

The defendant appeals from orders entered by a judge of the

District Court revoking his probation and imposing a sentence in

two separate criminal cases.2 The revocation was based on the

defendant's failure to comply with the probation condition that

he complete a specific residential program. On appeal, he

claims that the judge's orders were based on unreliable hearsay

and, consequently, the Commonwealth failed to meet its burden of

proof. We affirm.

1The companion case, no. 24-P-1455, involves the same parties.

2We have paired these two appeals for consideration by the same panel as they raise the same issues. Background. On May 31, 2023, the defendant pleaded guilty

to various criminal offenses charged in two criminal complaints.

Specifically, the defendant pleaded guilty to breaking and

entering in the daytime with intent to commit a felony, in

violation of G. L. c. 266, § 18, as then in effect; assault and

battery causing serious bodily injury, in violation of G. L.

c. 265, § 13A (b); strangulation or suffocation, in violation of

G. L. c. 265, § 15D (b); and assault and battery on a family or

household member, in violation of G. L. c. 265, § 13M (a). The

defendant was sentenced to concurrent terms of eighteen months

in the house of correction, with nine months to be served and

the balance suspended for two years. The judge imposed as

conditions of probation, concurrent on all charges, that the

defendant stay away and have no contact with the victims, remain

alcohol and drug free, submit to alcohol and drug screens, and

attend the Intimate Partner Abuse Education Program.

Thereafter, on August 15, 2024, the defendant was found in

violation of probation based in part on a positive test for

alcohol. He was reprobated with a new condition that he receive

substance use treatment at the Carl E. Dahl House (Dahl House),

a residential recovery home. The condition specified that the

defendant was required to "successfully complete any substance

use evaluation [and] treatment . . . at Carl E. Dahl House." In

2 addition, the defendant was ordered to refrain from alcohol and

illegal or unprescribed drugs.

The defendant entered Dahl House on August 15, 2024, and

was discharged on October 9, 2024, without completing the

program. Upon learning of his early discharge, the defendant's

probation officer issued a notice of violation of probation

based on the defendant's failure to successfully complete the

residential program.3 At the probation violation hearing, the

probation officer stated that the defendant was discharged from

the program "for theft [cigarettes] from another patient." The

probation officer introduced e-mail correspondence between

herself and the program director at the Dahl House that provided

more context for the defendant's discharge, recounting a

previous allegation of theft and a subsequent warning given to

the defendant. According to the program director, after the

first allegation of theft and trespass into other patients'

rooms, the defendant was warned never to go into another

patient's room, and the defendant acknowledged and agreed to

that condition. Thereafter, when a patient reported his

cigarettes missing, an investigation revealed that the defendant

3 The notice of violation also alleged that the defendant violated the condition that he not use illegal or unprescribed drugs on the ground that he tested positive for buprenorphine when he first entered the facility. However, the judge found there was no probable cause to support a violation on this ground.

3 was recorded on camera entering that patient's room and leaving

with something in his hands. The program director explained in

an e-mail message that this incident was the reason for his

final decision to discharge the defendant from the program. The

defendant testified at the hearing on his own behalf and denied

the allegations.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the judge found the

defendant had violated a condition of his probation, namely

failure to complete the residential program at the Dahl House,

and the defendant was sentenced to serve the remainder of his

sentence.

Discussion. "In reviewing a judge's revocation of

probation, we 'must determine whether the record discloses

sufficient reliable evidence to warrant the findings by the

judge[, by a preponderance of the evidence,] that [the

probationer] had violated the specified conditions of his . . .

probation.'" Commonwealth v. Gelin, 494 Mass. 777, 783 (2024),

quoting Commonwealth v. Jarrett, 491 Mass. 437, 440 (2023). The

defendant contends that the statements of the program director

of Dahl House contained within the e-mail messages sent to the

probation officer amounted to unreliable hearsay and, therefore,

the orders revoking his probation must be vacated.

It is well settled that hearsay evidence may be relied on

in a probation violation hearing where it has substantial

4 indicia of reliability. Commonwealth v. Hartfield, 474 Mass.

474, 482 (2016). However, in Hartfield, the Supreme Judicial

Court further advised that where a judge relies on hearsay

evidence in finding a violation of probation, the judge should

"set forth in writing or on the record why the judge found the

hearsay evidence to be reliable." Id. at 485. Even if the

judge did not do so in this case, as the defendant alleges, we

discern no abuse of discretion because the sole issue before the

judge was whether the defendant successfully completed the

program. It was undisputed that the defendant did not do so.

Even if we were to assume, as the defendant asserts, that the

hearsay evidence was unreliable, that evidence pertained to the

reasons for the defendant's discharge from the program and, as

such, is inconsequential. As to the defendant's argument that

he did not willfully violate probation because he was unaware of

the program's regulations, as noted, the defendant acknowledged

the condition that he not go into rooms of other patients; the

record does not support the defendant's claim. The undisputed

failure of the defendant to successfully complete the program

5 was a sufficient basis for revocation of his probation

regardless of the reasons for that failure.

Orders finding probation violation, revoking probation, and imposing sentence affirmed.

By the Court (Vuono, Desmond & Toone, JJ.4),

Clerk

Entered: November 26, 2025.

4 The panelists are listed in order of seniority.