Case Title: Perez v. Commonwealth

Citation: 

Docket Number: SJC-12611

State: massachusetts

Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court

Date: 2019-07-25T00:00:00Z

Document:
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SJC-12611 
 
NORMAN PEREZ  vs.  COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 
July 25, 2019. 
 
 
Moot Question.  Practice, Civil, Moot case, Transcript of 
testimony, Dismissal of appeal. 
 
 
 
The petitioner, Norman Perez, was convicted of murder in 
the first degree based on deliberate premeditation and extreme 
atrocity or cruelty.  We affirmed the conviction.  Commonwealth 
v. Perez, 411 Mass. 249, 250 (1991).  In August 2018, Perez 
filed, in the county court, a "petition for mandamus" to be 
issued to the Superior Court in Middlesex County pursuant to 
G. L. c. 211, § 3, asking the court to "compel" the Superior 
Court to provide him with a copy of the transcript from the 
trial of his codefendant, Angel Kipp.1  A single justice denied 
the petition without a hearing. 
 
 
It appears that when Perez filed his G. L. c. 211, § 3, 
petition in the county court, he also filed a copy in the 
Superior Court.  Notwithstanding the single justice's decision, 
issued on August 27, 2018, a judge in the Superior Court, on 
August 28, 2018, issued an order directing the Superior Court 
clerk's office in Middlesex County to provide Perez with a copy 
of the requested transcript.  Shortly thereafter, Perez received 
a copy of the transcript of his own trial, rather than of Kipp's 
trial.  The Superior Court judge then issued an order 
specifically providing that Perez's "request for a copy of 
[Kipp's] trial is allowed." 
 
                                                 
 
1 The petitioner's codefendant, Angel Kipp, was indicted for 
the same murder for which Perez was ultimately convicted.  Kipp 
was tried separately and acquitted. 
 
 
 
While Perez was continuing his efforts to secure a copy of 
the transcript in the Superior Court, he also filed this appeal 
from the single justice's denial of his G. L. c. 211, § 3, 
petition.  The Commonwealth has filed a motion to dismiss the 
appeal on the basis that it is moot because Perez has received 
the relief that he sought -- that is, that the Superior Court 
judge, in directing the Superior Court clerk's office in 
Middlesex County to provide a copy of Kipp's trial transcript, 
provided the relief that Perez seeks from this court.  We agree, 
and for this reason we dismiss the appeal.  In doing so, 
however, we are cognizant of the fact that Perez has not yet 
actually received the transcript; according to the Commonwealth, 
the Superior Court clerk's office "has undertaken a search" for 
the transcript, has not yet located it, and will provide it if 
it can be located.2  Should the clerk's office be unable to 
provide a copy of the transcript to Perez within sixty days of 
this decision, further appropriate steps should be addressed in 
the first instance in the Superior Court. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Appeal dismissed. 
 
 
 
Norman Perez, pro se. 
 
Howard Blatchford, Assistant District Attorney, for the 
Commonwealth. 
                                                 
 
2 The record indicates that Kipp's trial took place before 
Perez's trial; that prior to Perez's trial, Perez filed a motion 
for a transcript of Kipp's trial; and that the motion was 
allowed.  The record does not indicate whether the transcript 
was ever prepared or produced to Perez.