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Timestamp: 2019-04-24 00:33:35+00:00

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JOSEPH A. BLAZO vs. SUPERIOR COURT. RAPHAEL LOPEZ vs. COMMONWEALTH.
TWO PETITIONS filed in the Supreme Judicial Court for the county of Suffolk on February 12, 1974.
The cases were reserved and reported by Wilkins, J., without decision.
Lucien Wulsin, Jr. (Michael Feldman with him) for Joseph A. Blazo.
Harvey M. Pullman (Paul S. Waickowski with him) for Raphael Lopez.
KAPLAN, J. The first above entitled case is a petition by Joseph A. Blazo for certiorari, lodged in the county court, to correct alleged errors committed at a misdemeanor session of the Superior Court. A single justice of our court reserved and reported the matter to the full bench, the basic facts having been reduced by the parties to a statement of agreed facts.
Blazo had been found guilty in the Municipal Court of the City of Boston of begetting and nonsupport (G. L. c. 273, Sections 11, 15). He took his appeal under G. L. c. 278, Section 18, for trial de novo by a jury of twelve at a misdemeanor session of the Superior Court, usually presided over by a judge of a District Court sitting by special assignment. Before trial, Blazo applied on the ground of his indigence to the assigned judge for an order providing for blood grouping tests under G. L. c. 273, Section 12A, without cost to himself. The motion was granted. Blazo applied also (1) to have summonses served and other steps taken to secure the attendance at trial of persons alleged to be needed as witnesses on his behalf, and (2) to have a stenographer appointed to record the proceedings in the misdemeanor session, both to be without cost to him. The judge denied the two motions and declined to report the questions involved under the procedure of G. L. c. 278, Section 30A. Blazo has therefore proceeded on these points by petition for certiorari (G. L. c. 249, Section 4, prior to amendment by St. 1973, c. 1114, Section 289, effective July 1, 1974).
of witnesses from a demand for blood testing. General Laws c. 273, Section 12A, states that in paternity matters the court on defendant's demand shall order blood grouping tests of the mother, child, and defendant. In the Possehl case we thought that, if this blanket command was not in itself to be read as requiring the public to defray these expenses where the defendant making the demand could not meet them, the Constitutions of the Commonwealth and the United States -- the concepts of due process and equal protection underlying the Transcript Cases -- would require that result. See 355 Mass. at 577. The present cases are not less compelling: while the right to blood testing was conferred by statute, it is the Sixth Amendment itself that in terms guarantees "compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in [the accused's] favor," and this is paralleled in substance by art. 12 of our Declaration of Rights.
An affluent defendant prepared to pay the fees may summon witnesses nearly ad lib. There is no constitutional command that an indigent shall be provided with the same unbounded liberty. It is right that an indigent should have to establish need for his witnesses who are to be summoned at public cost; he may not demand excessive and therefore pointless expenditure. Cf. Commonwealth v. Dirring, 354 Mass. 523 (1968); Draper v. Washington, 372 U.S. 487, 495-496 (1963). There should be no serious difficulty in the defendant's coming forward with his reasons justifying the particular summonses, or in the judge's reaching an objective decision on the matter.
The judge below may have thought that the affidavit supporting Blazo's motion was not sufficiently informing -- he sought the attendance of seven witnesses on the basis of brief averments -- but Blazo did offer to supply further data if desired. In all events Blazo will be required to satisfy the procedure just described when the case is resumed in the misdemeanor session.
the defendants may have to secure access to verbatim records under the Transcript Cases.
The position in the Commonwealth is this. Under G. L. c. 278, Sections 33A-33B, an official stenographer is routinely provided to record the Superior Court proceedings in prosecutions for felony and for any misdemeanor tried with a felony. Where review is by "appeal" (the method employed following trial for murder or manslaughter, and used if ordered by the court in the other cases mentioned) there is express provision under which indigents may obtain transcripts at county expense. Section 33B. [Note 11] For misdemeanors, not felony-connected, tried in the Superior Court, there is no provision for stenographic recording. [Note 12] But by G. L. c. 221, Section 91B, inserted by St. 1965, c. 585, a defendant having the wherewithal may provide at his own expense for attendance of a stenographer and later for a transcription. Commonwealth v. Shea, 356 Mass. 358 (1969). Under the reasoning of the Transcript Cases, the defendants here are entitled to some comparable facilities at public expense so far as needed for adequate review of right of final judgments of conviction, and the fact that these are prosecutions for misdemeanors rather than offences of higher grade should not deprive them. See Williams v. Oklahoma City, 395 U.S. 458, 459 (1969) ("violation of a city ordinance, quasi criminal in nature and often referred to as a petty offense"); Mayer v. Chicago, 404 U.S. 189, 195-196 (1971).
The truth of the matter is that the need for a record, or for a record of a given fidelity, varies from case to case. Misdemeanor prosecutions generally present simple issues. In some instances review in the event of conviction can be seen from the beginning to be a futility, and is not contemplated. In other instances tape recorders, or even hand-kept notes, may well suffice for any possible purposes of review. In still other situations a verbatim record can be essential for protection of the defendants' rights. The problem is that in particular cases it may be hard to tell in advance what the defendant coming to trial will need in the form of a record if the jury convict and review is called for. Unlike a showing that a particular witness is needed, a demonstration that a given method of preserving a record for eventual review will or will not be adequate, may be difficult, time consuming, and in the end unsatisfactory precisely because of the speculative factors involved. [Note 18] The consequences of refusing a stenographer, however, could be serious if it turned out that the judge's guess was wrong and a verbatim record, full or partial, was later shown to be actually requisite. An attempt at pre-trial demonstration might prove not only difficult but embarrassing. It could put pressure on counsel to disclose more of what he proposed to do at trial than he would otherwise be bound (or at liberty) to reveal. So also it could be awkward to try to demonstrate to the judge slated to try a case that there was such potentiality that error would be committed that special precautions should be taken in recording the proceedings. Cf. Draper v. Washington, 372 U.S. 487, 498 (1963).
nonindigent, that is, it should be left to the indigent's counsel to decide, in the light of eventualities as he can best project them, whether less costly alternatives are infeasible and a stenographic record is required. To put the proposition more formally, we think a defendant in a misdemeanor session, on proof of his inability by reason of indigence to avail himself of c. 221, Section 91B, should be entitled on request to have a stenographer record the proceedings. [Note 19] As we shall point out below, the request will be understood to be a goodfaith representation by counsel that in his considered judgment such a verbatim record is needed to insure protection of the defendant's rights. Counsel may be helped to a conscientious judgment by the fact that the nature of the case will often have become clear during the provisional trial in the District Court. A reasonable forbearance in requesting stenographers is essential pending a general solution of the problem of maintaining records at tolerable costs.
In deciding whether to request that a stenographer attend and record the proceedings or to rely instead on a tape recorder or the like, and again in deciding whether to request full or partial transcripts or to depend on other means to prepare for review, counsel are expected to act responsibly and avoid making unnecessary or exorbitant demands on the time of stenographers and on public resources; they are to act as if they were representing nonindigent clients to whom the expenditures in question were matters of serious consequence. (The same applies to the summoning of witnesses discussed in point 1, and to demands for stenographers in jury-of-six trials.) Just this point about counsel's attitudes was made by Chief Justice Burger, concurring in Mayer v. Chicago, 404 U.S. 189, 199 (1971). He spoke of "the duty of counsel as officers of the court to seek only what is needed," and he concluded that "[w]hen excessive demands are made by an appellant in order to postpone the day when the appeal is finally determined, because, for example, he is at liberty pending appeal, a lawyer who cooperates is guilty of unprofessional conduct." Id. at 199-200, 201 (footnote omitted).
problem of preparing a satisfactory record for purposes of appellate review.
3. Disposition. In the light of this opinion, counsel will wish to reconsider what requests they are warranted in making to the judge below.
The orders of the assigned judges in the Superior Court denying applications are vacated and the petitioners, if upon consideration they are so advised, may reapply for relief in accordance with this opinion.
[Note 1] The Commonwealth has not objected to the use of certiorari or the "superintendency" power in the special situations at bar.
[Note 2] Other cases in the series are: Eskridge v. Washington State Bd. of Prison Terms and Paroles, 357 U.S. 214 (1958); Lane v. Brown, 372 U.S. 477 (1963); Draper v. Washington, 372 U.S. 487 (1963); Long v. District Court of Iowa in and for Lee County, 385 U.S. 192 (1966); Roberts v. LaVallee, 389 U.S. 40 (1967); Gardner v. California, 393 U.S. 367 (1969); Williams v. Oklahoma City, 395 U.S. 458 (1969); Wade v. Wilson, 396 U.S. 282 (1970); Mayer v. Chicago, 404 U.S. 189 (1971); Britt v. North Carolina, 404 U.S. 226 (1971). Though centering on the right of indigents to counsel, Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353 (1963), and Ross v. Moffit, 417 U.S. 600 (1974), discuss also the question of transcripts.
[Note 3] The cases look both to due process and equal protection.
For a statement by Mr. Justice Harlan of the transformation, as he saw it, of equal protection and due process notions brought about by the requirement that the States must in certain events provide free transcripts to indigent defendants, see his dissenting opinion in Griffin v. Illinois, supra, 351 U.S. at 29 (1956). See also his dissent in Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353, 360 (1963).
[Note 4] Under G. L. c. 233, Section 2, fees to the officer for serving the process may be saved through the use of a "disinterested person" to make service.
Blazo averred that his witnesses would not appear unless served and paid in accordance with the statutes.
[Note 5] See Commonwealth v. Williams, 13 Mass. 501 (1816); Rev. Sts. (1836) c. 136, Section 23.
[Note 6] Under G. L. c. 277, Section 69, witnesses summoned on behalf of the Commonwealth are required to attend without payment of fees, but the court may make an appropriate order if it finds they are unable to defray expenses.
[Note 7] No argument is made that because a defendant in a capital case has free process for witnesses, it follows constitutionally that the same must be provided for defendants charged with lesser offences. See Griffin v. Illinois, supra, 351 U.S. at 21 (1956) (concurring opinion of Frankfurter, J.).
[Note 8] The reason ex parte application is allowed is that, just as a defendant able to foot the costs need not explain to anyone his reasons for summoning a given witness, so an impecunious defendant should be able to summon his witnesses without explanation that will reach the adversary. See the notes to Rule 17 (b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, referred to in n. 10 below.
[Note 9] This was the statute relied on for source of payment in the Possehl case, supra, 355 Mass. at 577 (1969), and before that in Abodeely v. Worcester, 352 Mass. 719 , 722 (1967), with regard to payment of counsel appointed to represent indigent defendants. See also O'Coin's, Inc. v. Treasurer of the County of Worcester, 362 Mass. 507 , 514-515 (1972).
[Note 10] Federal Criminal Rule 17 (b) states: "Defendants Unable to Pay. The court shall order at any time that a subpoena be issued for service on a named witness upon an ex parte application of a defendant upon a satisfactory showing that the defendant is financially unable to pay the fees of the witness and that the presence of the witness is necessary to an adequate defense. If the court orders the subpoena to be issued the costs incurred by the process and the fees of the witness so subpoenaed shall be paid in the same manner in which similar costs and fees are paid in case of a witness subpoenaed in behalf of the government."
This rule reached its present form by amendment effective July 1, 1966, and an understanding of its details is best gotten by reading the notes of the Advisory Committee proposing that amendment, reproduced at 34 F. R. D. 426-427 (1964). See 1 Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure, Section 272 (1969).
[Note 11] In this particular context "appeal" connotes review on the basis of a verbatim record.
With respect to the cases mentioned where the court may order "appeal," but in fact declines to do so, and review is thus by exceptions, there is no express statutory provision for indigent defendants' obtaining transcripts.
[Note 12] Stenographers are routinely provided by the county for civil cases tried in the Superior Court (although transcripts must be paid for by the parties), so it appears that the only class of cases in the Superior Court at which stenographers do not attend routinely is misdemeanors not connected with felony.
[Note 13] The Supreme Court case nearest to our Britt case was Roberts v. LaVallee, 389 U.S. 40 (1967), which involved the record of a preliminary hearing, but there -- unlike the situation in Massachusetts -- the State had provided for recordation of the hearing by an official stenographer and the question was on the indigent's right to a free transcript of an existing stenographic record. Our court in the Britt case indicated, further, that a decision for the defendant, extended over seventy-two District Courts and the Municipal Court of the City of Boston, might put such a levy on stenographers as in practical effect to deny equal protection of the laws; the Legislature might indeed prefer an annulment of c. 221, Section 91B. No question about the possible use of electronic recording in lieu of stenography was before the court. See 362 Mass. at 332 (1972).
It is believed that the practical effect of the present qualified decision will be moderate because of the differences in numbers of cases affected, the experience in jury-of-six cases (see n. 22 below), and other factors. And see below the discussion of counsel's responsibility.
[Note 14] Somewhat analogous is Ross v. Moffit, 417 U.S. 600 (1974), where the Supreme Court, answering a question left open in Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353 (1963), held (six to three) that the State of North Carolina was not constitutionally required to provide counsel for an indigent to conduct an application for discretionary review by a higher court after he had been provided (pursuant to the Douglas case) with counsel for a first appeal of right which proved unsuccessful. Substantial adequacy and comparability were shown by an analysis of the character and criteria of the discretionary review involved, taken together with the assistance provided by counsel at trial and in the briefing of the first appeal, by the opinion below, and by the availability of a transcript of the trial.
[Note 15] The statements of agreed facts in the two cases describe the tape recorders and say as to past experience with them in the District Courts: "[T]he overwhelming majority were defective to the extent that almost without exception, some portions of the matters recorded on those tapes were unintelligible. There was great discrepancy among the tapes in terms of the quality of the recordings. Most of the tapes contained the bulk of the information recorded; a substantial number were incomplete in that significant portions of the proceedings did not appear on the recording, and some of the tapes were of no value whatsoever."
[Note 16] See n. 24 below.
[Note 17] "Without a stenographic record, the prosecuting of an appeal in which questions of evidence, questions relating to the charge, and the propriety of rulings and instructions and the like are involved is hazardous. It opens the door to conflicting versions of what occurred at the trial, and the failure to settle these questions satisfactorily might often result in a miscarriage of justice. It is conceivable that the defendant in fact suffered no prejudice by the lack of a stenographic record, but as to that we can only speculate. Without such a record the showing of prejudice is rendered difficult. We prefer to resolve any doubts on this score in favor of the defendant. Accordingly, there must be a new trial." The Shea case at 361. See Hardy v. United States, 375 U.S. 277, 282, 288 (1964) (Goldberg, J., concurring); Mayer v. Chicago, 404 U.S. 189, 195 (1971).
In the Shea case it was a denial of the defendant's right to a stenographer under G. L. c. 221, Section 91B, that was held to be the error requiring reversal of his conviction in the misdemeanor session.
[Note 18] This problem of forecasting was not faced in the Transcript Cases which typically involved the question of the indigent's right to a transcript from an existing official stenographic record. See n. 13 above.
[Note 19] If suitable electronic recording should become available, see n. 24 below, it could serve in lieu of stenographic recording.
[Note 20] "... [W]here the grounds of appeal, as in this case, make out a colorable need for a complete transcript, the burden is on the State to show that only a portion of the transcript or an `alternative' will suffice for an effective appeal on those grounds." The Mayer case at 195. See Britt v. North Carolina, 404 U.S. 226, 230 (1971).
[Note 21] There are fifty-six such enumerated District Courts, and thirteen to which the appeals are remitted and where the six-man jury trials are held.
A defendant who has appealed to a jury of six waives any right to appeal to a jury of twelve, but a defendant who appeals to a jury of twelve may in the discretion of a judge of the Superior Court be permitted to forgo that appeal if he acts before the time of trial and appeals to the jury of six.
[Note 22] And his claim would be strengthened by the fact that a stenographic record would already have been made; see n. 13 above.
[Note 23] General Laws c. 278, Section 18A, allows defendants convicted of misdemeanors (other than libel) in any District Court for Suffolk County or in the Municipal Court of the City of Boston (none of these being an enumerated court under G. L. c. 218, Section 27A, see n. 21 above) to appeal to a jury of twelve in the Municipal Court of the City of Boston, waiving thereby any claim to appeal to the Superior Court, but there is no provision about demands for a stenographer.
[Note 24] For a full discussion, see the Report on Preservation of Testimony in District Court Proceedings, November 30, 1973, rendered by the Chief Justice of the District Courts to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court. For a description of the characteristics of an acceptable apparatus, see pp. 15-21. The unit price of the apparatus (four-channel audio recorder, microphones, and operator headset) was estimated at $2,235 (p. 109), to be amortized over eight years.

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