Title: Barbosa v. Commonwealth

State: massachusetts

Issuer: Massachusetts Supreme Court

Document:

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SJC-12526 
 
RICHARD MICHAEL BARBOSA  vs.  COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 
 
February 25, 2019. 
 
 
Supreme Judicial Court, Superintendence of inferior courts.  
Practice, Criminal, Record. 
 
 
 
The petitioner, Richard Michael Barbosa, appeals from a 
judgment of a single justice of this court dismissing, without a 
hearing, his petition pursuant to G. L. c. 211, § 3.  The papers 
that Barbosa has filed are, at best, difficult to discern.  He 
appears to be complaining about certain actions, or inactions, 
of both the trial court judge and standby counsel in various 
criminal proceedings in the Superior Court.  Neither the 
specifics about which he complains nor what relief he seeks are 
clear.  His submissions, in short, do not rise to the level of 
adequate appellate argument and they fail to establish any 
coherent basis for relief.  Mass. R. A. P. 16 (a) (4), as 
amended, 367 Mass. 921 (1975).  Moreover, Barbosa had, but 
failed to meet, the burden "to provide a record sufficient to 
evaluate his claims."  Sabree v. Commonwealth, 479 Mass. 1006, 
1007 (2018), citing Gorod v. Tabachnick, 428 Mass. 1001 (1998).1 
 
                                                 
 
1 It appears that some of the matters that the petitioner 
raises may pertain to his currently pending direct appeal.  If 
that is so, he is free to raise those matters in that appeal if 
relevant.  To the extent that he raises matters pertaining to 
earlier convictions (that are not a part of the pending direct 
appeal), such as complaints about ineffective assistance of 
counsel, those matters appear to be ones that should be raised 
in the first instance in the trial court via a motion for a new 
trial. 
2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
 
 
Richard Michael Barbosa, pro se. 
 
Houston Armstrong, Assistant District Attorney, for the 
Commonwealth.