NOTICE: Summary decisions issued by the Appeals Court pursuant to M.A.C. Rule 23.0, as appearing in 97 Mass. App. Ct. 1017 (2020) (formerly known as rule 1:28, as amended by 73 Mass. App. Ct. 1001 [2009]), are primarily directed to the parties and, theref ore, may not fully address the facts of the case or the panel's decisional rationale. Moreover, such decisions are not circulated to the entire court and, therefore, represent only the views of the panel that decided the case. A summary decision pursuant to rule 23.0 or rule 1:28 issued after February 25, 2008, may be cited for its persuasive value but, because of the limitations noted above, not as binding precedent. See Chace v. Curran , 71 Mass. App. Ct. 258, 260 n.4 (2008). COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
APPEALS COURT 22

- P

- 872

COMMONWEALTH

vs . NICCO

- KAWON PLEDGER. MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 23.0 A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant of murder in
the second degree , armed assault with intent to murder, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, c arrying a firearm without a license , and carrying a loaded firearm without a license
. 1 T he defendant filed a motion for a new trial on the ground of ineffective a ssistance of counsel, which the trial judge denied
. Before us is the defendant's consolidated appe a l from h is convictions and the denial of his new trial motion
. He argues that his trial counsel was ineffective , largely for failing to challenge the admission of certain cell site location information (CSLI) evidence ; that the judge erred by allowing

1 The jury also con victed the defendant of possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card , but that judgment was dismissed at the Commonwealth's request
.2 the prosecutor to use peremptory challenges to exclude two Black jurors ; that the juror compensation statute is unconstitutional ;

an d that the judge s hould have sua sponte ordered a special award of compensation t o Black jurors who were dismissed because of financial hardship
. We are unpersuaded by these arguments and thus affirm the judgments of conviction of murder in the
second degree, armed assault with intent to murder, and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon. We vacate the firearms convictions p ursuant to Commonwealth v. Guardado , 491 Mass. 666 ( Guardado I ) , S . C . , 493 Mass. 1 (2023) ( Guardado II )
. Background
. At about 3 A . M . on March 21, 2016, Allex Bryant was sho t and killed after leaving a party on Humboldt
Avenue in Roxbury. A second victim, Daquon Brown , was shot in the leg
. Several hours earlier, at about 11:30 P . M ., t he defendant arrived at the party after his half

- sister , Aneka Smith, called him twice at the request of another partygoer, Tyquan Neal
. The defendant left after only fifteen minutes , and Bryant and Brown arrived together about ninety minutes later
. After they arrived , Smith called t he defendant a third time a t Neal 's request , but t he defendant was not seen at the party again
. When the party ended at about 2:50 A . M . , Bryant and Brown left for Brown's car , which was parked near the corner of Humboldt Avenue and M unroe Stree t . Soon thereafter, m ultiple3 witnesses heard gun shots , and some saw parts of the shooting.
The host of the part y heard gunfire involving "more than one
person . " A neighbor saw two men shooting at each other and then

saw one of the m throw something in to a parked car before jumping into a dark sedan that sped off in the wrong direction on M u nroe Street . Another neighbor n o tic ed that the car leaving the scene was a black Nissan with tinted windows.
P olice responded soon after the shooting and found Bryant unresponsive in the passenger seat of Brown's car
. On Munroe
Street they recover ed numerous shell casings, a firearm on the sidewalk , and a magazine cartridge underneath a parked Toyota Camry . After obtaining a search warrant, the polic e recovered another firearm from the floor of the Camry
. The Camry was registered to the defendant's brother, Dartanyan Pledger.
O n ce they learn ed that t he defendant had attended the party , police acquir ed the c ell phone records for a number (2364
number ) that they believe d belonged to him. They later discovered that the number was registered to the defendant's girlfriend, Lisa Lewis, who owned a 2006 black Nissan Maxima with tinted windows. The records for the 2364 number showed that its user had regular contact with another number registered4 to Lewis and a number registered to Dartanyan 2 from 2:06 A . M . to 3:10 A . M . on the day of the shooting. The police sent the records for all three numbers to Zet x , a company founded by Sy Ray , for CSLI mapping
. Using software that he developed , Ray produced maps with shaded areas , described as "handoff area s , " around the cell phone towers used by the phones before and after the shooting. According to Ray , who testified as the Commonwealth's CSLI expert , the handoff areas show ed that the user of the 2364 number was in the area of
Munroe Street at about midnight ; travel ed to downtown Boston ,

near Lewis' s workplace , at about 2: 25 A . M . ; return ed to the
Munroe Street area at about 2:45 A . M . ; and remained there until
after the shooting
. Ray acknowledged that t he handoff area s did not pinpoint a phone's exact location but represented only a

" rough estimation" of where the phone was when it connected to a
tower . Discussion
. 1. Ineffective assistance of counsel
. In his motion for a new trial, the defendant argued that his trial
counsel was ineffective for not moving to exclude Ray's testimony as unreliable under the Daub ert

- Lanigan test 3 or offering a rebuttal expert. The defendant also argu ed that

2 Because Dartanyan has the same surname as the defendant, we use his first name to avoid confusion. 3 See Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm s ., Inc . , 509 U.S. 579, 589 (1993); Commonwealth v. Lanigan , 419 Mass. 15, 24 (1994).5 counsel should have raised a hearsay objection to a detective's testimony. The judge denied the motion without an evidentiary hearing. To establish ineffective assistance, a defendant must show "serious incompetency, inefficiency, or inattention of counsel" that likely deprived the defendant " of an otherwise available, substantial ground of defen s e." Commonwealth v. Daley , 439 Mass. 558, 569 n.8 (2003) , quoting Commonwealth v. Saferian , 366 Mass. 89, 96 (1974). Wh ere , as here, a claim of ineffective assistance is based on a strategic decision by counsel , the question is whether the decision was manifestly unreasonable
when made. Commonw ealth v. Kolenovic , 471 Mass. 664, 674 (2015). We review the judge's decision for an abuse of discretion , according "special deference" to her factual findings and ultimate conclu sion s , as she was also the judge at trial
. Id . at 672

- 6 73, quoting Commonwealth v. Lane , 462 Mass. 591, 597 (2012).
T he judge properly determined that trial counsel 's decision
not to challenge Ray's expert t estimony or call a rebuttal witness was not manifestly unreasonable
. C ounsel averred in an affidavit t hat he research ed the issue 4 and determin ed that such

4 Specifically , c ounsel averred that he "consulted with other counsel as well [as] individua ls with professional training relative to CSL I and cell tower capabilities ," "reviewed various6 a challenge would either be unsuccessful or result in a different expert testifying who would be les s favorable to the defense
. Among other factors, c ounsel considered that Ray had a

" limited educational background , " that his company had an "obvious pro

- law enforcement slant , " and that his me thods departed from those typical ly used in CSLI mapping
. 5 In addition, counsel looked into other cases in which the
Commonwealth had introduce d CSLI evidence through law enforcement experts . Given that the CSLI evidence in those cases "was essentially the same" as "the information imparted [by Ray]," and g iven counsel's "past experiences with the level of education, training, experience and deme anor of law enforcement experts," counsel concluded that his chance s of discrediting the CSLI evidence would be greater if Ray testified

as the Commonwealth's expert . T his strategic decision, as the judge found , was "eminently reasonabl e ." The judge also properly conclude d that counsel's decision did not deprive the defendant of a substantial ground of

published materials relative [to] the function of cell towers to explore the nature of the anticipated testimony," and "conducted research regarding Sy Ray and Zet x , includin g, but not limited to, some of t he cases in which he testified as an expert
. " Counsel then learn ed that Ray had "been previously admitted as an expert in a number of [c]ourts." 5 Counsel was aware that "the form of [CSLI] evidence" is traditionally in the "cone/pie wedge shape rather th an Zetx mapping."7 defense
. The defendant 's motion and supporting affidavit and report from Joseph Nicholls, a digital forensic examiner, failed
to show that materially different evidence would have come in
had another expert testified for the Commonwealth or had a rebuttal expert testified
. Nicholls's affidavit and report did
not rebut the crux of Ray's testimony, which was that the 2364
number used cell phon e towers near Munroe Street at the time of the shooting
. As t he judge foun d , a different expert apply ing traditional methods would " still have to acknowledge that the CSLI put the phone within a certain coverage area and, in a densely populated city such as Boston, that coverage area is relatively small." See Commonwealth v. Perry , 489 Mass. 436, 439

- 440 (2022)
. Thus, because the mot ion did not demonstrate that "better work might ha v e accomplished something material for the defense , " the judge did not abuse h er discretion b y concluding that the defendant failed to establish prejudice.
Commonwealth v. Satterfield , 373 Mass. 109, 115 ( 1977). Nor did the judge abuse her discretion by rejecting the
defendant's claim that counsel was ineffective for not raising a hearsay objection. Underlying this claim is a detective's affirmative response ( "I was" ) to the question : "As part of your investigation, were you able to obtain a potential phone8 number that might belong to [ the defendant ]?" 6 The defendant does not explain why the detective's response constituted hearsay. It did not recount an out

- of

- court statemen t , s ee
M ass. G. Evid. § 801(c ) (2023) , and so counsel was not ineffective for failing to object to it . See Commonwealth v. Kruah , 47 Mass. App. Ct. 341, 344

- 3 45 (1999). The absence of object ion also did not deprive the defendant of a substantial ground of defense , given that the detective immediately went on to testify that the 2364 number was in fact registered to Lewis
. 2
. Peremptory challenges
. We turn to the argument s the defendant raises on direct appeal, beginning first with his claim that the judg e should have denied the Commonwealth's peremptory challenges to two Black jurors
. W hile peremptory challenges are presumed to be proper, that presumption can be
rebutted if "the totality of the relevant facts gives rise to an inference of discriminatory purpose." Commonwealth v. Mason , 485 Mass. 520, 529 (2020), quoting Commonwealth v. Sanchez , 485 Mass. 491, 511 (2020). If the defendant makes this showing , t he burden shif ts to the Commonwealth to stat e a nondiscriminatory reason for the challenge
. See Mason , supra at 530.
The Commonwealth used peremptory challenges on juror s nos. 101 and 69 , both Black women, after discussions about their

6 Contrary to the defendant's characterization, t he detective did not testify that he "learned" of the potential phone number.9 criminal histories
. J uror no. 101 disclos ed that she had previously been charged with a crime and stood trial "[i]n front
of a judge. " In challenging her , th e prosecutor sta ted that he did not want "someone who's actually been to trial as a criminal
defendant sitting on [ the ] jury. " J uror no. 69 disclosed that she and her son w ere prosecuted for drug crime s by the same district attorney 's o ffice involved in this case , that she had served one year of incarceration , and that she believed she was "made an example of" for other parents. The prosecutor challenged her because of concern s that she had some " residual feelings " about his office
. The judge permitted both challenges over the defendant's objections , finding no pattern of discrimination and that the reasons given by the Commonwealth

were not pretext . On appeal t he defendant argues to the contrary that the Commonwealth 's reasons were "demonstrably pretextual " in light
of the fact that it did not challenge four other jurors with criminal histories
. Bu t the record does not reveal the racial identities of the four unchallenged jurors , and so we have no factual basis on which to conclude that the Commonwealth acted with discriminatory purpose. See Commonwealth v. Grier , 490 Mass. 455, 461

- 4 62 (2022). For this reason alone , the defendant has failed to show that the judge erred by finding an absence of pretext . Furthermore, the judge had a sound basis for her10 rulings, as the struck jurors' "significant experiences with the
law provided
. . . su fficient and obvious bas [e s ] for the prosecutor's peremptory challenge [s] ." Commonwealth v. Lopes , 478 Mass. 593, 601 (2018). By co mparison none of the four unchallenged jurors disclosed being charged with any crimes that
result ed in a trial or a committed sentence. 7 The Commonwealth was also warranted in striking juror no. 69 for the independent
reason that she and her son had been prosecuted by the d istrict

a ttorney's o ffice involved in this case and "could harbor resentment against the office
. " Commonwealth v. Walker , 69 Mass. App. Ct. 137, 143 (2007). See Commonwealth v. Scott , 98 Mass. App. Ct. 843, 848 (2020)
. Thus, on th e record before us , we discern no abuse of discretion in the judge's allowance of the challenges
. 3
. Juror compensati o n statute . The defendant claims that the juror compensation statute, G. L. c. 234A, § 51 , is unconstitutional on its face and as applied because it resulted in the dismissal of four otherwise qualified Black jurors , violating his right to a jury drawn from a fair cross section of the community
. According to the defendant, because the statute

7 The unchallenged jurors disclosed previous arrest s -- at least two of which occurred in other jurisdictions

-- for possession of a c lass B substance, "attaching plates," and operating under the influence
. It is unclear from the record which , if any, of the se arrests led to trials or convictions
.11 provides for payment of less than minimum wage, it has a disp ar ate impact on Black j uror s and other people of color. T he defendant provides no record support for this assertion. The record does not reveal what percentage of the jurors excused for financial hardship were Black 8 and is de void of information regarding the racial compositi on of the venire or the seated jury. W e therefore have no basis on which to evaluate the defendant's claim
. See Commonwealth v. Mcfarlane , 102 Mass. App. Ct. 264, 270 (2023) , S . C . 493 Mass. 385 (2024)
. 4. Special compensation
. Likewise, we cannot evaluate t he defendant's claim that the judge erred by failing to sua sponte order award s of special compensation under G. L. c. 234A, § 56 , to the Black jurors excused for financial hardship
. There is no information in this record to support the defendant's suggestion
that the special awards were necessary to ensure a proportionate number of Black people on the jury. H i s claim fails for at least this reason.
5
. Firearm s convictions
. As t he parties agree , and we have confirmed, the Commonwealth presented no evidence on the defendant's licensure status as required by Guardado I , 491 Mass. at 668
. T he convictions of carrying a firearm without a

8 Almo st twenty jurors were excused for financial hardship , including the four Black jurors and three white jurors. The racial background s of the remaining jurors are not apparent from the record
.12 license and carrying a loaded firearm without a l icense must therefore be vacated
. The Commonwealth is free to retry the defendant on th o se charges
. See Guardado II , 493 Mass. at 12. Conclusion
. The judgments of conviction of carrying a firearm without a license and carrying a loaded firearm without a license are vacated. T he remaining judgments and the order den y i ng the defendant's motion for a new trial are affirmed
. So ordered
. By the Court (Desmond, Shin & Singh, JJ. 9 ),

Assistant Clerk

Entered: March 18, 2024.

9 The panelists are listed in order of seniority.