Court Opinion

ID: 9737519
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:27:38.990859+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:23:59.528719
License: Public Domain

*144Quirico, J.
(concurring) The specific relief sought by the
petitioner is that this court order the Municipal Court of the Roxbury District to “schedule a probable cause hearing for the charges against [the] defendant” and that further action by the Commonwealth be stayed pending the holding of such a hearing. The briefs of both the petitioner and the Commonwealth state the principal question for decision to be whether a defendant, appearing before a judge of a District Court on a criminal complaint charging an offence of which that court has final jurisdiction, is entitled to a “bind-over” or “probable cause” hearing, so called, before the judge can decline jurisdiction and bind the defendant over to the Superior Court. By its opinion this court holds that the petitioner is entitled to such a hearing and I concur with that holding.
The petitioner has not requested, and is not now requesting, a full trial in the District Court on the merits of the complaint against him. If he had the right to request and receive such a trial, he should be deemed to have waived it by reasons of his limited request for a “probable cause” hearing. For this reason I would refrain from presently expressing any opinion on the procedure to be followed by a District Court judge in a situation where the defendant has not waived his right to a trial on the merits of the complaint.