Title: Sena v. Commonwealth
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: SJC-12490
State: Massachusetts
Issuer: Massachusetts Supreme Court
Date: October 31, 2018

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SJC-12490 
 
DENNIS SENA  vs.  COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 
October 31, 2018. 
 
 
Supreme Judicial Court, Superintendence of inferior courts. 
 
 
 
Dennis Sena filed a petition for relief under G. L. c. 211, 
§ 3, in the county court, seeking review of a Superior Court 
judge's order denying his motion to withdraw a guilty plea and 
to enforce a plea agreement.  The single justice essentially 
denied the petition, and Sena appeals. 
 
 
Sena has filed a memorandum and appendix pursuant to S.J.C. 
Rule 2:21, as amended, 434 Mass. 1301 (2001), although he is not 
challenging an interlocutory ruling of the trial court.  Even 
though the rule does not apply in this situation, it is evident 
on the record before us that review under G. L. c. 211, § 3, is 
not warranted because an adequate alternative remedy is 
available:  specifically, an appeal to the Appeals Court from 
the Superior Court's denial of the request to withdraw the 
guilty plea.  Indeed, Sena filed a notice of appeal from the 
judge's order, and his appeal has been docketed in the Appeals 
Court.  "This court's extraordinary power of general 
superintendence under G. L. c. 211, § 3, is not a shortcut for 
the normal process of . . . appeal."  Padmanabhan v. Yout, 477 
Mass. 1012, 1013 (2017). 
 
 
A judgment shall enter in the county court denying the 
petition under G. L. c. 211, § 3. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
So ordered. 
 
 
The case was submitted on the papers filed, accompanied by 
a memorandum of law. 
2 
 
 
 
Dennis Sena, pro se.