Title: Briscoe v. District Attorney for the Northern District
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: SJC-12609
State: Massachusetts
Issuer: Massachusetts Supreme Court
Date: January 25, 2019

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SJC-12609 
 
AKKIMA DANNIELLE BRISCOE  vs.  DISTRICT ATTORNEY  
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT. 
 
 
January 25, 2019. 
 
 
Practice, Civil, Action in nature of mandamus, Standing. 
 
 
 
The plaintiff, Akkima Dannielle Briscoe, appeals from a 
judgment of a single justice of this court dismissing, without a 
hearing, her complaint seeking relief in the nature of mandamus 
and other extraordinary relief.  We affirm. 
 
 
This matter concerns a criminal case in the Superior Court 
against Michael Lamonte Degree, who is the father of the 
plaintiff's children.  The plaintiff's papers both in this court 
and in the county court are difficult to follow, but as best we 
can discern she is seeking orders compelling various public 
officials to "void" or "reverse" Degree's criminal convictions, 
to release him from confinement, and to return or impound the 
documents, property, and evidence connected to his prosecution. 
The single justice dismissed the complaint, concluding that the 
plaintiff lacks standing to seek this type of relief associated 
with the criminal case against Degree.  There was no error in 
denying relief.  The claims asserted by the plaintiff belong to 
Degree, not to the plaintiff or the children.  See Hagen v. 
Commonwealth, 437 Mass. 374, 380 (2002), quoting Tarabolski v. 
Williams, 419 Mass. 1001, 1002 (1994) ("private citizen lacks a 
judicially cognizable interest in the prosecution or 
nonprosecution of another").  See also Indeck Maine Energy, LLC 
v. Commissioner of Energy Resources, 454 Mass. 511, 516 (2009) 
(mandamus statute, G. L. c. 249, § 5, does not provide 
independent basis for standing).  The financial and emotional 
impact that Degree's convictions have on the plaintiff and her 
2 
 
 
children does not give her standing to seek this type of relief 
in her behalf, theirs, or his. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Judgment affirmed.  
 
 
 
The case was submitted on the papers filed, accompanied by 
a memorandum of law. 
 
Akkima Dannielle Briscoe, pro se.