COMMONWEALTH v. ZENO Z., a Juvenile.

CourtMassachusetts Appeals Court
DecidedJune 23, 2025
Docket23-P-1458
StatusUnpublished

This text of COMMONWEALTH v. ZENO Z., a Juvenile. (COMMONWEALTH v. ZENO Z., a Juvenile.) 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. ZENO Z., a Juvenile., (Mass. Ct. App. 2025).

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

23-P-1458

COMMONWEALTH

vs.

ZENO Z., a juvenile.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 23.0

A juvenile filed this interlocutory appeal from an order

denying his motion to suppress his statements made to police

during two interviews conducted just over an hour apart. The

juvenile argues that the motion judge erred in finding: (1) he

was not subject to a custodial interrogation during the first

interview and therefore Miranda warnings were not required; (2)

he voluntarily waived his Miranda rights during the second

interview; (3) his mother, who was present during the second

interview, qualified as an interested adult; and (4) the

statements he made during the second interview, where he

confessed to unlawful possession of a firearm, were not tainted

by the illegality of the first interview and therefore did not require suppression. The order denying the motion to suppress

is reversed as to the juvenile's statements made during the

first interview but affirmed as to the juvenile's statements

made during the second interview.

Background. The following facts are drawn from the judge's

findings, from undisputed facts in the record that she

implicitly credited, and from the video recordings (video) of

the juvenile's interactions with police, including the two

interviews pertinent to this appeal, which we have independently

reviewed. See Commonwealth v. Tremblay, 480 Mass. 645, 654-655

(2018); Commonwealth v. Jones-Pannell, 472 Mass. 429, 436

(2015).

On October 13, 2020, at around 9:30 P.M., police and

emergency medical services (EMS) responded to a "ShotSpotter"

activation at 83 Kingsdale Street and reported car accident at

the nearby intersection of Blue Hill Avenue, Harvard Street, and

Talbot Avenue. 1 Lieutenant Brooks (Brooks), who responded to the

scene, observed a gun on the driver's seat where the operator

had been sitting as EMS was removing the operator from the

vehicle. The operator of the vehicle had suffered a gunshot

wound to the head, and the vehicle was damaged by ballistics

fire. Due to the severity of the operator's injuries, Brooks

1 The juvenile also called 911 following the accident.

2 called "full notifications" which alerts relevant authorities to

the existence of a potential homicide.

Brooks was informed that there had been a passenger in the

vehicle and, with his badge and gun visible, approached the

juvenile who was standing at a bus stop nearby and appeared to

be interested in the accident. 2 Brooks asked the juvenile if he

was in the vehicle and the juvenile politely said that he was.

Brooks also asked the juvenile the name of the operator of the

vehicle as well as the juvenile's name, date of birth, address,

and phone number, which the juvenile provided. Brooks informed

the juvenile that "they're gonna have a couple questions for you

about everything that's going on here alright, because it seems

like it might have been a little more than a car accident

involved here." Brooks then pat and frisked the juvenile and

told him, "We're gonna have you go to the office, we'll give you

a ride, [and] talk to the detectives." A few moments later,

after Brooks had walked away, the juvenile was approached and

asked by a different officer on the scene if he had been in the

vehicle. The juvenile told that officer that he was in the

vehicle and briefly described how the shooting and the accident

transpired. A third officer standing next to the juvenile again

asked the juvenile for his personal information, and after

2 The juvenile's interaction with Brooks was recorded by a body camera footage which we have reviewed.

3 collecting his information stated to an officer nearby, "he's

gonna come with us." 3 The third officer, along with another

officer, transported the juvenile, without handcuffs, to the

police station in the back of a marked police cruiser. While

they were en route to the station, one of the transporting

officers communicated over his radio that they were transporting

a "juvenile to HQ."

Once the juvenile arrived at the police station, he was

escorted to the second-floor homicide unit and brought to a

small interview room at 10:06 P.M. An interview of the juvenile

was then conducted by Detective Callahan and Detective

Kornetsky. At the beginning of the interview, Callahan informed

the juvenile that the interview would be audio and video

recorded and then asked the juvenile for his name and date of

birth, at which time Callahan noted that the juvenile was

seventeen years old. As a result, Callahan asked the juvenile

if his mother and father knew what was going on or where he was,

to which the juvenile responded no. Callahan then asked the

juvenile to tell him "what happened . . . that caused [the

juvenile] to come up to the unit.". The juvenile explained that

earlier that night he decided to "take a ride" with his friend

Isaiah, the victim of the shooting and operator of the vehicle,

3 This officer was wearing the body camera that captured the footage we reviewed.

4 from their neighborhood in Randolph to his friend's aunt's home

in Dorchester. When they were slowly driving on a side street

looking for parking near the aunt's home, they were approached

by three men wearing hoodies and masks on their faces from a

driveway on the right side of the street. The juvenile stated

that one of at the masked man, wearing a COVID-19 surgical mask,

crept up along the left side of their vehicle and started

shooting at them. Isaiah, who was struck in the head by a

bullet, lost control of the vehicle, which was rolling down a

hill. The juvenile explained that because Isaiah's foot was

stuck on the gas pedal, he had to jump into the driver's seat

and attempt to control the vehicle. However, after crashing

through two gates at the end of the street, the vehicle

eventually struck a tree. The juvenile then called 911 and a

couple of bystanders came up to the car to see if they needed

help. 4 He went on to report that his ribs hurt, and his lips

were split from hitting his face on the steering wheel.

After the juvenile finished recounting the shooting and the

accident, Callahan asked the juvenile clarifying questions about

the shooting and the suspects. He also asked the juvenile

questions about, inter alia, the purpose of visiting Isaiah's

aunt's home, whether the juvenile and Isaiah were planning on

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COMMONWEALTH v. ZENO Z., a Juvenile., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-zeno-z-a-juvenile-massappct-2025.