Opinion
14-P-1536
06-12-2015
COMMONWEALTH v. ROBERT K. LITTLES.
NOTICE: Summary decisions issued by the Appeals Court pursuant to its 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 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).
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 1:28
The defendant appeals from the denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea entered in connection with the murder of Calvin Reese, who was shot in the back of his head in the Roxbury section of Boston. The defendant was a juvenile at the time of the offense and when he pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree and various firearm charges. He received a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after fifteen years. In his motion, the defendant argued that his plea of guilty to second degree murder must be vacated because, given his age, a mandatory life sentence constitutes a cruel and unusual punishment in violation of both the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution and art. 26 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. We affirm.
In 2008, the defendant moved to withdraw his guilty pleas on the ground that they had not been entered intelligently and voluntarily and were in violation of his constitutional rights. The denial of that motion was affirmed on appeal. See Commonwealth v. Littles, 74 Mass. App. Ct. 1107 (2009).
"A motion to withdraw a guilty plea is treated as a motion for a new trial." Commonwealth v. Furr, 454 Mass. 101, 106 (2009). A defendant may obtain a new trial under Mass.R.Crim.P. 30(b), as appearing in 435 Mass. 1501 (2001), if "it appears that justice may not have been done." Commonwealth v. Lopez, 426 Mass. 657, 662 (1998). Here, the defendant has failed to demonstrate that "justice may not have been done." Ibid. The Supreme Judicial Court recently addressed the precise issue raised by the defendant in his motion. In Commonwealth v. Okoro, 471 Mass. 51 (2015), the defendant, as here, was a juvenile when he committed the crime of murder. He subsequently was convicted of murder in the second degree. Id. at 54. On appeal he claimed that because he was a juvenile at the time of the offense, a mandatory life sentence was unconstitutional, despite his eligibility for future parole. Id. at 55-56. The court squarely rejected this argument. Id. at 62. The holding in Okoro is directly on point and compels the affirmance of the order denying the defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty plea.
Order entered August 8, 2014, denying motion to withdraw guilty plea affirmed.
By the Court (Vuono, Wolohojian & Sullivan, JJ.),
The panelists are listed in order of seniority.
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Clerk Entered: June 12, 2015.