Commonwealth v. Kopsala

790 N.E.2d 1093, 58 Mass. App. Ct. 387, 2003 Mass. App. LEXIS 708
CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedJune 27, 2003
DocketNo. 01-P-1110
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 790 N.E.2d 1093 (Commonwealth v. Kopsala) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Appeals Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Kopsala, 790 N.E.2d 1093, 58 Mass. App. Ct. 387, 2003 Mass. App. LEXIS 708 (Mass. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

Smith, J.

The defendant was convicted by a judge, sitting without a jury, of rape and indecent assault and battery on a person fourteen years of age or older.

[388]*388On appeal, the defendant claims that the judge committed error in denying his motion for a mistrial based on misinformation furnished to the defendant by the Commonwealth prior to his trial. He also claims that the acts of rape and indecent assault and battery were so closely related in fact that they constituted a single crime, and supported only a single conviction and sentence.

Facts. We outline the evidence introduced by the Commonwealth, reserving certain details to be discussed in conjunction with the issues raised.

The victim was one of the defendant’s adult daughters. In November of 1996, the defendant, who was separated from the victim’s mother, lived in Ashby with his son, David. On November 23, the victim was having problems with her live-in ex-husband, and went to the defendant’s home, hoping that he would allow her to stay there.

The defendant was not home when she arrived. The victim drank some blackberry brandy with a couple who lived in the upstairs bedroom. The defendant arrived home in the early evening, and she continued drinking blackberry brandy with him. Sometime during the evening, the victim passed out.

Meanwhile, the victim’s mother and aunt met David at a bar. After about an hour of socializing, the mother agreed to drive David home. Upon arriving at the defendant’s home, they recognized the victim’s car and entered the house looking for her. After searching the upstairs bedrooms to no avail, the mother went to the defendant’s downstairs bedroom. The door was locked but the mother finally was able to push the door open.

Upon entering the bedroom she found the defendant standing by the door, with a blanket wrapped tightly around him. The victim was unconscious and lying on her back on a bed with her shirt pulled up, exposing her breasts. Her jeans were around her ankles.

The mother and the defendant then engaged in a shouting match, which drew the attention of David and the aunt. They entered the room and David, seeing his sister half-naked on the defendant’s bed, became angry and also shouted at the defendant. The aunt called the police. The victim regained [389]*389consciousness but had no memory of what had occurred after she passed out.

After the police arrived, the mother and aunt took the victim to the hospital, where she discovered that her underpants had been removed. A rape kit protocol was undertaken and, after completion, was turned over to State Trooper Burke. The trooper also took custody of the victim’s jeans. Both the rape kit and jeans were sent to the State police crime laboratory for examination.

On November 24, the defendant was interviewed at his home by Trooper Burke and other police officers. The defendant gave several versions of his activities in relation to the victim. In the final version, he claimed that the victim rubbed his groin and kissed him a few times. He helped her to his room and onto his bed. The defendant stated that with the victim’s assistance, he pulled off her pants, panties, sneakers, and socks. He was drunk and unable to have an erection. The victim passed out, the defendant heard voices in the house, and then he started to put the victim’s pants back on when the victim’s mother came through the door. The defendant could not recall at what time he locked the bedroom door. The defendant consented to a search of the house, and the victim’s panties were found in a hamper.

On the second day of trial, a supervisor from the State police crime laboratory evidence unit testified concerning the results of the tests that the laboratory had performed on the victim’s jeans and on the vaginal and external genital swabs. The supervisor testified that, based on her training and experience and the test results, the defendant could not be excluded as a possible source of the seminal fluids found on the vaginal swabs because the quantity was not sufficient for interpretation.

The prosecutor called the supervisor’s attention to her report, which had been given to the prosecutor and defense counsel prior to trial. The report stated that the defendant “can” be excluded as a source of the seminal fluid found on the vaginal swabs. The supervisor testified that the word “can” was a typographical error and the word “cannot” was the correct word, as she had testified. The supervisor further testified that the correct result, i.e., that the defendant “cannot” be excluded, [390]*390was included in the table of results in the report. She also stated that she discovered the error the morning of the day she testified.

The defendant moved for a mistrial. He argued that his tactical decision to waive the jury was based upon the “rather unsavory allegations in [the] case” and the apparent exculpatory nature of the test results as shown in the report. Thus, he claimed his jury waiver was involuntary and not intelligently made. He also contended that he was prejudiced by the late discovery of the error because he was deprived of an opportunity to have an independent expert test the evidence.

The judge denied the defendant’s motion for a mistrial. He ruled that (1) neither party was responsible for the delayed discovery of the typographical error; (2) a careful reading of the report would have revealed substantial internal inconsistencies between the report’s table of results and the report’s conclusion; and (3) the defendant failed to show he was prejudiced by the error in the report.

The next day, the defendant renewed his motion for a mistrial. The judge again denied the motion but, in response to the defendant’s claim of prejudice, the judge granted the defendant a three-month continuance to allow the defense to perform forensic tests. Because of scheduling conflicts of the parties, the trial did not resume until nine months later. The defendant again requested a mistrial and the judge denied it for the same reasons he had previously stated. The defendant then rested without presenting any evidence. The judge found the defendant guilty on both indictments.

1. Denial of the defendant’s motion for a mistrial, a. Jury waiver. “The right to a jury trial is a fundamental right guaranteed to a criminal defendant in order to preserve a fair trial.” Commonwealth v. Dietrich, 381 Mass. 458, 460 (1980). A defendant may waive a jury trial provided his decision is made “voluntarily and intelligently.” Ciummei v. Commonwealth, 378 Mass. 504, 509 (1979). A properly conducted colloquy accompanied by a written jury waiver signed by the defendant is sufficient to establish, at least prima facie, that the waiver was both voluntary and intelligent. Id. at 508-509.

Here, the defendant does not claim that his decision to waive the jury was involuntary and not intelligently made because the [391]*391colloquy was defective or that his written waiver was not properly executed. Rather, he argues that, because his decision to waive the jury was in reliance on the allegedly exculpatory information in the report, his waiver was not voluntarily or intelligently made because he was subsequently informed during the trial that one of the statements in the report was erroneous.

First, a defendant must decide whether he should or should not waive the jury.

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Bluebook (online)
790 N.E.2d 1093, 58 Mass. App. Ct. 387, 2003 Mass. App. LEXIS 708, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-kopsala-massappct-2003.