Case Title: Kyricopoulos v. Commonwealth

Citation: 

Docket Number: SJC-12824

State: massachusetts

Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court

Date: 2020-02-21T00:00:00Z

Document:
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SJC-12824 
 
JAMES PETER KYRICOPOULOS  vs.  COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 
February 21, 2020. 
 
 
Supreme Judicial Court, Superintendence of inferior courts. 
 
 
 
James Peter Kyricopoulos appeals from a judgment of the 
county court denying, without a hearing, his petition for relief 
under G. L. c. 211, § 3.  We affirm. 
 
 
Kyricopoulos was convicted in 2014 of multiple counts of 
larceny over $250.  He filed a timely notice of appeal.  
However, apparently due to delay in the preparation of trial 
transcripts and the assembly of the record, the appeal was not 
entered in the Appeals Court until 2016.  The appeal was 
ultimately dismissed for lack of prosecution in 2017.  See 
Kyricopoulos v. Attorney General, 481 Mass. 1024, 1025 (2019).  
In his G. L. c. 211, § 3, petition, he sought an order 
dismissing the underlying criminal charges, apparently 
contending that his appeal was deliberately blocked by the 
Appeals Court and others.  A single justice of this court denied 
relief and, citing Kyricopoulos's multiple petitions seeking the 
same or substantially similar relief, warned him that future 
such filings might result in the court's taking remedial 
measures, including restrictions on future filings. 
 
 
Kyricopoulos has filed what appears to have been intended 
as a memorandum and appendix pursuant to S.J.C. Rule 2:21, as 
amended, 434 Mass. 1301 (2001).  Rule 2:21 does not apply in 
this situation, because Kyricopoulos is not challenging any 
interlocutory ruling of the trial court.  It is nonetheless 
clear that he is not entitled to review pursuant to G. L. 
c. 211, § 3, essentially for the same reasons stated in 
Kyricopoulos, supra, and cases cited therein.  His claims that 
 
 
members of the bar and the judiciary deliberately conspired to 
delay production of the transcripts and to thwart his appellate 
rights are unsubstantiated by the record and do not constitute 
adequate appellate argument.1  See Mass. R. A. P. 16 (a) (9), as 
appearing in 481 Mass. 1628 (2019).  Kyricopoulos also alleges 
that he received improper and dangerous medical treatment while 
in prison.  These allegations, while serious, are not properly 
before us and do not provide a basis to disturb the single 
justice's judgment.  Finally, any claim that Kyricopoulos's 
convictions should be vacated and the charges dismissed can be 
raised in a motion pursuant to Mass. R. Crim. P. 30, as 
appearing in 435 Mass. 1501 (2001).2  Where Kyricopoulos had this 
ordinary remedy, he was not entitled to invoke the court's 
extraordinary superintendent power. 
 
 
In sum, based on the record before us, the single justice 
did not err or abuse her discretion by denying relief under 
G. L. c. 211, § 3. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
 
 
The case was submitted on the papers filed, accompanied by 
a memorandum of law. 
 
James Peter Kyricopoulos, pro se. 
                     
 
1 Moreover, despite our advising Kyricopoulos that his 
"pejorative remarks about various individuals involved with his 
case . . . are inappropriate and do not in any way enhance his 
position," Kyricopoulos v. Attorney General, 481 Mass. 1024, 
1025 n.4 (2019), Kyricopoulos has continued to make similarly 
pejorative remarks about the single justice and others. 
 
 
2 It appears from the Superior Court record that 
Kyricopoulos did in fact file a motion pursuant to Mass. R. 
Crim. P. 30, and, when that motion was denied, timely appealed.  
An appeal from the denial of that motion was entered in the 
Appeals Court on September 11, 2019, and voluntarily withdrawn 
with prejudice by Kyricopoulos.