Case Title: Commonwealth v. Birks

Citation: 

Docket Number: SJC-13306

State: massachusetts

Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court

Date: 2022-10-13T00:00:00Z

Document:
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SJC-13306 
 
COMMONWEALTH  vs.  TOMMY BIRKS. 
 
 
October 13, 2022. 
 
 
Practice, Criminal, Capital case, Postconviction relief, Appeal. 
 
 
The defendant, Tommy Birks, was convicted of murder in the 
first degree on a theory of joint venture.  See Commonwealth v. 
Birks, 435 Mass. 782, 783 (2002).  In February 2019, he filed in 
the county court a "Petition to Supreme Judicial Court 
Requesting Relief in the Form of an Order to the Trial Court to 
Correct the Record" and a "Motion Requesting Leave to Enter 
Petition on the Docket of the Supreme Judicial Court," 
purportedly pursuant to G. L. c. 278, § 33E.  The single justice 
dismissed the petition "[o]n the basis that Birks had not first 
sought the requested postconviction relief in the Superior 
Court, and that there thus was no Superior Court decision from 
which Birks sought leave to appeal."  Commonwealth v. Birks, 484 
Mass. 1014, 1014 (2020).  Birks appealed, and we affirmed the 
single justice's judgment.  See id. 
 
Thereafter, Birks filed, in the Superior Court, a "Motion 
to Correct and Modify the Record Pursuant to [Mass. R. A. P.] 
8 (e)," as appearing in 481 Mass. 1611 (2019)  After a judge in 
that court denied the motion, Birks returned again to the county 
court, filing an application for leave to appeal from that 
denial pursuant to G. L. c. 278, § 33E.  The single justice 
denied the application.  Birks filed a notice of appeal in the 
county court and, after his appeal was entered in this court, a 
"Motion Requesting Leave to Enter Petition on the Docket of the 
Supreme Judicial Court," essentially seeking leave to appeal 
from the single justice's decision.  The Commonwealth, in turn, 
moved to dismiss the appeal. 
 
2 
 
 
Birks has no right to appeal from the single justice's 
ruling, regardless of whether he asks this court for leave to do 
so.  "A single justice, acting as a gatekeeper pursuant to G. L. 
c. 278, § 33E, may allow an appeal to the full court to proceed 
under that statute if the appeal presents a 'new and 
substantial' question."  Commonwealth v. Anderson, 482 Mass. 
1027, 1027 (2019), citing Commonwealth v. Gunter, 459 Mass. 480, 
487, cert. denied, 565 U.S. 868 (2011).  "If the appeal fails on 
either count, and the single justice denies the application, 
that decision 'is final and unreviewable.'"  Anderson, supra, 
quoting Commonwealth v. Gunter, 456 Mass. 1017, 1017 (2010).  "A 
defendant who is denied leave to appeal from a single justice 
acting as a gatekeeper pursuant to the last sentence of G. L. 
c. 278, § 33E, has no right to appeal from the single justice's 
ruling denying leave."  Commonwealth v. Companonio, 472 Mass. 
1004, 1005 (2015), and cases cited.  Birks's attempt to appeal 
from the single justice's denial of his application must 
therefore be dismissed. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Appeal dismissed. 
 
 
 
Tommy Birks, pro se. 
Cynthia Cullen Payne, Assistant District Attorney, for the 
Commonwealth.