Title: Commonwealth v. Wampler
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: SJC-13111
State: Massachusetts
Issuer: Massachusetts Supreme Court
Date: August 20, 2021

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SJC-13111 
 
COMMONWEALTH  vs.  LARRY D. WAMPLER, JR. 
 
 
August 20, 2021. 
 
 
Practice, Criminal, Capital case, Postconviction relief, Appeal, 
Dismissal. 
 
 
The defendant, Larry D. Wampler, Jr., was convicted of 
murder in the first degree by reason of deliberate premeditation 
in 1992.  We affirmed the conviction.  See Commonwealth v. Hung 
Tan Vo, 427 Mass. 464 (1998).1  He has filed several 
postconviction motions in the trial court, most recently, in May 
2019, a "Renewed Motion to Determine Competency Prior to Trial, 
and Motion to Vacate, Set Aside, or Correct Sentence Pursuant to 
Mass. R. Crim. P. 30 (a)."  After the motion was denied, Wampler 
applied to a single justice of this court for leave to appeal 
from the denial, pursuant to G. L. c. 278, § 33E.  The single 
justice denied the application.  Wampler has appealed from the 
single justice's ruling, and the Commonwealth has moved to 
dismiss the appeal. 
 
 
Wampler has no right to appeal from the single justice's 
ruling.  "A single justice, acting as a gatekeeper pursuant to 
G. L. c. 278, § 33E, may allow an appeal to the full court to 
proceed under that statute if the appeal presents a 'new and 
substantial' question."  Commonwealth v. Anderson, 482 Mass. 
1027, 1027 (2019), citing Commonwealth v. Gunter, 459 Mass. 480, 
487, cert. denied, 565 U.S. 868 (2011).  "If the appeal fails on 
either count, and the single justice denies the application, 
that decision 'is final and unreviewable.'"  Anderson, supra, 
quoting Commonwealth v. Gunter, 456 Mass. 1017, 1017 (2010).  "A 
 
1 At the time of trial, the defendant was known as Hung Tan 
Vo.  He now goes by the name Larry D. Wampler, Jr. 
2 
 
defendant who is denied leave to appeal from a single justice 
acting as a gatekeeper pursuant to the last sentence of G. L. 
c. 278, § 33E, has no right to appeal from the single justice's 
ruling denying leave."  Commonwealth v. Companonio, 472 Mass. 
1004, 1005 (2015), and cases cited.  Wampler's attempt to appeal 
from the single justice's denial of his application must 
therefore be dismissed. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Appeal dismissed. 
 
 
 
Jamie Michael Charles, Assistant District Attorney, for the 
Commonwealth. 
 
Larry D. Wampler, Jr., pro se.