Case Title: Commonwealth v. Freiberg

Citation: 

Docket Number: SJC-12772

State: massachusetts

Court: Massachusetts Supreme Court

Date: 2019-11-13T00:00:00Z

Document:
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SJC-12772 
 
COMMONWEALTH  vs.  RICHARD S. FREIBERG. 
 
 
November 13, 2019. 
 
 
Practice, Criminal, Capital case, Postconviction relief, Appeal, 
Dismissal. 
 
 
 
The defendant, Richard S. Freiberg, was convicted of murder 
in the first degree in 1987.  This court affirmed the 
conviction.  See Commonwealth v. Freiberg, 405 Mass. 282, 284 
(1989).  In January 2019, the defendant filed his fifth motion 
in the Superior Court seeking a new trial.1  A judge in that 
court denied the motion, and the defendant then applied to a 
single justice of this court for leave to appeal from the denial 
of his motion, pursuant to the gatekeeper provision of G. L. 
c. 278, § 33E.  The single justice denied the application, 
concluding that the application did not raise a new and 
substantial question.  The defendant appeals from the single 
justice's denial of his application.  The Commonwealth has moved 
to dismiss the appeal.2 
 
 
The appeal must be dismissed because the single justice's 
denial of a gatekeeper application, under G. L. c. 278, § 33E, 
is final and unreviewable.  See Zagranski v. Commonwealth, 477 
                                                 
 
1 The defendant's four previous motions for postconviction 
relief were denied.  This court affirmed the denial of the first 
motion for a new trial.  See Commonwealth v. Freiberg, 405 Mass. 
282 (1989).  His applications to a single justice for leave to 
appeal from the denials of the remaining motions, pursuant to 
G. L. c. 278, § 33E, were denied. 
 
 
2 The defendant's request that counsel be appointed for 
purposes of the appeal is denied. 
 
 
Mass. 1028, 1029 (2017).  "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). 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Appeal dismissed. 
 
 
 
Richard S. Freiberg, pro se. 
 
Julianne Campbell, Assistant District Attorney, for the 
Commonwealth.