Commonwealth v. Dow

14 Mass. L. Rptr. 313
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedFebruary 1, 2002
DocketNo.20010190001
StatusPublished

This text of 14 Mass. L. Rptr. 313 (Commonwealth v. Dow) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Dow, 14 Mass. L. Rptr. 313 (Mass. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Lowy, J.

The defendant moves to dismiss the indictment, based on violation of G.L.c. 272, §29A, on the grounds that the evidence presented to the grand jury did not establish a cognizable crime under the statute. Based upon the conclusions of law discussed below, the defendant’s motion is denied.

Background

In April 2001, the defendant, Nolan Dow (“Dow”), was charged with one indictment for Posing a Child in the State of Nudity in violation of G.L.c. 272, §29A. The grand jury was presented with the following evidence. On November 26, 2000, a seventeen-year-old female, after showering, exited the bathroom door, when she saw her stepfather, Nolan Dow, quickly walking away holding a video camera. Due to concern about her stepfather’s behavior, the young female spoke with her mother and asked her to view the videotapes. On December 15, 2000, the young female and her mother turned over a videotape to the Haverhill Police Department. The videotape was reviewed by the Haverhill Police Department and was found to contain, within the first thirty to forty-five seconds, a young female exiting a shower, toweling off, and in a state of undress. The content of the videotape focused on the young woman’s exposed pelvic area and buttocks. In addition, the shower curtain and keyhole of the bathroom door were visible on the videotape. The remainder of the content on the videotape contained pornographic material showing people engaged in various sex acts.

The young woman was shown the tape at the Police Department and recognized herself on the videotape due to the identifying marks on the body and recognition of the bathroom shower curtain. After a search warrant for the defendant’s home was issued, the Haverhill Police observed the bathroom and recognized the same shower curtain that is visible on the videotape as well as the same key hole on the bathroom door. The Police arrested Dow.

Ruling of Law

The Court will allow a motion to dismiss an indictment if the indictment fails to contain “a concise description of the act which constitutes the crime or an appropriate legal term descriptive thereof.” Mass.R.Crim.P. 4(a). An indictment must set forth all the elements of the crime charged and if a statute does not contain all those elements, an indictment drawn in terms of that statute is insufficient. See Commonwealth v. Palladino, 358 Mass. 28, 30 (1970); See also Commonwealth v. Burns, 8 Mass.App.Ct. 194, 196 (1979). In contrast, “(a]n indictment will not be dismissed if the offense is charged with sufficient clarity to show a violation of law and to enable the accused to know the nature and cause of the accusation against him, to prepare and adequate defense, and to plead an acquittal or conviction in bar of future prosecution of the same offense.” Commonwealth v. Donoghue, 23 Mass.App.Ct. 103, 110 (1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1022 (1986).

A challenge to the validity of an indictment will only be successful when the motion demonstrates that the [314]*314evidence presented to the grand jury was insufficient to support the existence of probable cause and to establish the identification of the accused. See Commonwealth v. McCarthy, 385 Mass. 160, 163 (1982). In McCarthy, the Supreme Judicial Court held that “at the very least the grand jury must hear sufficient evidence to establish the identity of the accused . . . and probable cause to arrest him . . .” (Citation omitted.) Id.1 Probable cause is based on “reasonably trustworthy information . . . sufficient to warrant a prudent [person] in believing that the defendant had committed ... an offense.” Commonwealth v. O’Dell, 392 Mass. 445, 450 (1984), quoting Commonwealth v. Stevens, 362 Mass. 24, 26 (1972). “Probable cause requires more than mere suspicion but something less than evidence sufficient to warrant a conviction.” Commonwealth v. Hason, 387 Mass. 169, 174 (1982); see also Commonwealth v. Roman, 414 Mass. 642, 647 (1993). To indict a defendant, the grand jury does not need evidence warranting a finding of the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, rather, the grand jury need only evidence establishing probable cause to arrest. See Commonwealth v. Roman, 414 Mass. at 647; see Commonwealth v. O’Dell, 392 Mass. at 451 (stating that “a requirement of sufficient evidence to establish the identity of the accused and probable cause to arrest him is considerably less exacting than a requirement of sufficient evidence to warrant a guilty finding”). To determine whether or not sufficient evidence was presented to establish probable cause to arrest, it is necessary to conduct a fairly detailed analysis of the specific criminal law with which the defendant has been charged. See Commonwealth v. Fourteen Thousand Two Hundred Dollars, 421 Mass. 1, 19 (1995).

The Court now turns to the application of the elements of the charged crime, in the case at bar, to the evidence presented to the grand jury. Dow was charged with one indictment for Posing a Child in the State of Nudity, in violation of G.L.c. 272, §29A.2 The defendant argues that the evidence presented to the grand jury does not constitute a cognizable crime under the statute. The Court disagrees. The statute is unambiguous and should be read according to its plain meaning. See Commonwealth v. One 1987 Mercury Cougar Auto., 413 Mass. 534, 537 (1992) (stating that “it is a well-established canon of construction that, where the statutory language is clear, the courts must impart to the language its plain and ordinary meaning”); State Bd. of Retirement v. Boston Retirement Bd., 391 Mass. 92, 94 (1984) (stating that “a statute must be interpreted according to the intent of the Legislature ascertained from all it words construed by the ordinary and approved usage of the language . . .”). In applying the plain meaning of the statute, it is clear that Dow’s conduct meets the elements proscribed in the statute.

As stepfather of the young woman, there is a reasonable inference that Dow possessed the knowledge that the child was under eighteen years of age. In determining the element of “lascivious intent,” the court in Commonwealth v. Bean,_ Mass. _, 2002 Mass. LEXIS 63, noted that the factors set forth in G.L.c. 272, §31 “may” be applied in determining lascivious intentan element that is "rarely capable of direct proof.” The court in Bean further noted that “the statute specifically provides that evidence of lascivious intent shall not be limited to these factors,” but that these factors “closely track the factors set out by the Federal Courts.” (Citation omitted.) Id. (In Bean, the Supreme Judicial Court applied the factors set forth in G.L.c. 272, §31 and determined that the defendant did not act with "lascivious intent” when he took photographs of a minor female with her breast exposed.) Dow’s conduct was with lascivious intent3 as seen by the content of the videotape which focused on the child’s genitalia (factor 2) and the circumstances were of a lustful or obscene nature (factor l).4 In addition, lascivious intent is further buttressed by the fact that the remainder of the content of the videotape contained pornographic material of people engaged in various sex acts. Dow used, caused, and knowingly permitted the child to be exhibited in a state of nudity for the purpose of representation or reproduction on his videotape. The charged offense, therefore, meets all of the elements of the statute.

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Related

Commonwealth v. Palladino
260 N.E.2d 653 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1970)
State Board of Retirement v. Boston Retirement Board
460 N.E.2d 194 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1984)
Commonwealth v. Oakes
518 N.E.2d 836 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1988)
Commonwealth v. McCarthy
430 N.E.2d 1195 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1982)
Commonwealth v. O'DELL
466 N.E.2d 828 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1984)
Commonwealth v. One 1987 Mercury Cougar Automobile
600 N.E.2d 571 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1992)
Commonwealth v. Burns
392 N.E.2d 865 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1979)
Commonwealth v. Provost
636 N.E.2d 1312 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1994)
Commonwealth v. Donoghue
499 N.E.2d 832 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1986)
Commonwealth v. Roman
609 N.E.2d 1217 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1993)
Commonwealth v. Stevens
283 N.E.2d 673 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1972)
Commonwealth v. Hason
439 N.E.2d 251 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1982)
Commonwealth v. Fourteen Thousand Two Hundred Dollars
653 N.E.2d 153 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1995)
Commonwealth v. Bean
761 N.E.2d 501 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 2002)
Commonwealth v. Gichel
718 N.E.2d 1262 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1999)

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Bluebook (online)
14 Mass. L. Rptr. 313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-dow-masssuperct-2002.