Court Opinion

ID: 9375621
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-28 15:05:45.582939+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:00.422927
License: Public Domain

NOTICE: Summary decisions issued by the Appeals Court pursuant to M.A.C. Rule
23.0, as appearing in 97 Mass. App. Ct. 1017 (2020) (formerly known as rule 1:28,
as amended by 73 Mass. App. Ct. 1001 [2009]), are primarily directed to the parties
and, therefore, may not fully address the facts of the case or the panel's
decisional rationale. Moreover, such decisions are not circulated to the entire
court and, therefore, represent only the views of the panel that decided the case.
A summary decision pursuant to rule 23.0 or rule 1:28 issued after February 25,
2008, may be cited for its persuasive value but, because of the limitations noted
above, not as binding precedent. See Chace v. Curran, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 258, 260
n.4 (2008).

                       COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS

                                 APPEALS COURT

                                                  22-P-38

                                  COMMONWEALTH

                                       vs.

                             ANTHONY WINCHENBACH.

               MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 23.0

       In 2017, a Bristol County grand jury indicted the

 defendant, Anthony Winchenbach, for misleading a police officer

 in violation of G. L. c. 268, § 13B.           The defendant was also

 indicted on charges of possession of heroin and fentanyl, G. L.

 c. 94C, § 34.     The defendant moved to dismiss the indictment of

 misleading a police officer, pursuant to Commonwealth v.

 McCarthy, 385 Mass. 160 (1982), arguing that there was

 insufficient evidence presented to the grand jury that the

 defendant's statements could reasonably have caused an

 investigating officer to change the course of the investigation

 in a material way.       After a nonevidentiary hearing, a Superior

 Court judge allowed the motion and dismissed the indictment for

 misleading a police officer.         The Commonwealth appealed from the
dismissal pursuant to Mass. R. Crim. P. 15 (a) (1), as amended,

476 Mass. 1501 (2017).     For the reasons that follow, we conclude

that there was sufficient evidence to establish probable cause

and we therefore vacate the order dismissing the indictment for

misleading a police officer.

       Background.   We briefly summarize the evidence before the

grand jury.    On May 18, 2017, at approximately 1 P.M., a

housekeeper of the Fairfield Inn in New Bedford discovered the

body of a deceased woman later identified as Rachel Golaski, the

defendant's fiancé, on the floor with a hypodermic needle beside

her.    A cell phone next to her body on the floor had

communications from someone named "Anthony."     Golaski was

twenty-two weeks pregnant.     Based on bodily fluid located on the

rug and the body's lividity, police believed that someone had

moved Golaski's body after her death.     None of the first

responders or the inn staff reported moving the body.

       Police interviewed the inn staff and learned that the

defendant had arrived with Golaski at the inn the day before on

May 17th.     Surveillance footage from a camera located above

their inn room showed the defendant, carrying a towel, exiting

his room on the morning of May 18 and making several trips

toward a garbage can.     The defendant also went to the front desk

and got another card key for the room.     In total, the defendant

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made five trips in and out of his room over a thirty-minute time

period.

    The next day, on May 19, after being summoned back from a

commercial fishing trip, the defendant was interviewed by New

Bedford police officers.   He told the police that he and Golaski

had gone shopping before checking into the inn.    He reported

that he and Golaski went swimming and then he had some drinks.

He informed them that Golaski may have had a small sip of

alcohol but that she could not drink because she was pregnant.

After falling asleep, the defendant claimed that Golaski woke

him around 8 or 9 P.M. and said she was going to the store or

somewhere.   He said that she left the inn and claimed he did not

know where she went.   The defendant told the police that when

she returned, Golaski seemed fine and they both went to sleep

because he had to wake up early in the morning.    He claimed that

he got up in the morning, got all his belongings, gave her a hug

and kiss, told her he loved her, and then left the inn.    The

defendant said that Golaski was mumbling but told him she was

really tired and to "[h]ave a good trip."   He claimed that he

tried calling her a few times, but did not receive a response so

he texted her.

    The police asked the defendant if Golaski being tired was

normal.   The defendant responded that it was unusual and she

sometimes got like that when she was on drugs.    However, the

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defendant stated that Golaski was not using drugs and had been

clean "for a long time."    He also stated that he had never seen

her taking heroin.   The defendant also said that he had also

been clean for almost a year.    Upon further questioning, the

defendant stated that even though Golaski left the inn for some

time, he did not use any drugs while she was gone, but did not

know what Golaski did during that time.

    The police asked the defendant many questions about his

entering, leaving, and re-entering the inn in the morning.        The

police directly confronted the defendant about whether he saw

Golaski overdose on drugs and he denied seeing it occur.    He

claimed that if he had seen it happen, he would have called 911

or done cardiopulmonary resuscitation himself.     The defendant

denied seeing Golaski with any needles.

    Ultimately, after more questioning, the defendant changed

his story and admitted that he used drugs with Golaski,

overdosed, and at one point when he went back into the room, she

had died.   He claimed he passed out next to her and when he woke

up, her lips were blue and she was dead.    He admitted to moving

her body and putting her on her side at some point; he saw vomit

come out of her mouth.     He claimed he then attempted to blow

into her nose and mouth.    He then admitted to taking the spoon

and the other things she had been using to ingest drugs and

putting them into the spare tire wheel well in the trunk of her

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car.    He also told the police that he threw a number of trash

bags that he claimed Golaski had filled into the garbage.

       Discussion.   1.    Standard of review.   Although, in general,

a "court will not inquire into the competency or sufficiency of

the evidence before the grand jury," Commonwealth v. Robinson,

373 Mass. 591, 592 (1977), a "grand jury must hear sufficient

evidence to establish the identity of the accused . . . and

probable cause to arrest him" for the crime charged.        McCarthy,

385 Mass. at 163.     A grand jury may indict when presented with

sufficient evidence of "each of the . . . elements" of the

charged offense.     Commonwealth v. Moran, 453 Mass. 880, 884

(2009).     "Our review of a judge's determination of probable

cause is de novo."        Commonwealth v. Coggeshall, 473 Mass. 665,

667 (2016), citing Commonwealth v. Long, 454 Mass. 542, 555

(2009).

       2.   Misleading a police officer.     The witness intimidation

statute, G. L. c. 268, § 13B, was expanded in 2006 to cover a

broad range of crimes against public justice.        See G. L. c. 268,

§ 13B, as amended through St. 2006, c. 48, § 3.        "As a result,

§ 13B for the first time outlawed 'mislead[ing]' and

'harass[ing]' conduct, in addition to the 'threaten[ing]' and

'intimidat[ing]' conduct that the prior version of the statute

had proscribed."     Commonwealth v. Morse, 468 Mass. 360, 369

(2014).     Section 13B (b) now provides in pertinent part:

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    "Whoever willfully, either directly or indirectly, . . .
    misleads . . . [a] police officer . . . with the intent to
    . . . impede, obstruct, delay, prevent or otherwise
    interfere with: a criminal investigation . . . shall be
    punished." G. L. c. 268, § 13B (b).

See Commonwealth v. Paquette, 475 Mass. 793, 794 (2016)

(reciting elements of misleading police officer).

    In this case, it is beyond dispute that the defendant

changed his version of events to the police many times while

giving his statement.   Although under Federal law making a

materially false statement to a Federal law enforcement officer

is a crime in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1001, "our Legislature

has not adopted a comparable law criminalizing all materially

false statements made to State or local crime investigators."

Commonwealth v. Rivera, 482 Mass. 145, 152 (2019).

    In order for the defendant's lies to be part of a

Massachusetts crime, they must be "misleading."     A statement is

"misleading," for purposes of G. L. c. 268, § 13B, when the

statement not only "was false, but that it reasonably could have

led law enforcement officers to pursue a materially different

course in their investigation from one they otherwise would have

pursued because it sent them in the wrong direction, i.e., a

'wild goose chase.'"    Commonwealth v. Tejeda, 476 Mass. 817, 819

(2017), quoting Paquette, 475 Mass. at 800.

    Before applying these definitions to the facts here, we

iterate the familiar probable cause standard.     Probable cause is

                                 6
a "considerably less exacting" standard than that required to

support a conviction at trial.   Commonwealth v. O'Dell, 392

Mass. 445, 451 (1984).   To sustain the indictment against the

defendant, the Commonwealth must provide sufficient evidence to

establish probable cause, that is, "reasonably trustworthy

information sufficient to warrant a reasonable or prudent person

in believing that the defendant has committed the offense."

Commonwealth v. Humberto H., 466 Mass. 562, 565 (2013), quoting

Commonwealth v. Roman, 414 Mass. 642, 643 (1993).   We review the

evidence underlying a grand jury indictment in the light most

favorable to the Commonwealth.   See Commonwealth v. Catalina,

407 Mass. 779, 781 (1990).

    Mindful of this standard, we conclude the facts set forth

to the grand jury gave rise to a reasonable inference that the

defendant's statements were made with the intent to mislead the

police.   The defendant's statements about what he and Golaski

had done that evening and his lies about when the drugs were

used by Golaski and whether he was involved were clearly a

"content-laden fabrication designed to send police off course,

thereby interfering with their investigation."   Morse, 468 Mass.

at 374.   Obviously, any physical evidence found in the inn room

would be collected and analyzed by the police because of

Golaski's death.   The various stories that the defendant gave

about where he put the garbage could reasonably "have led law

                                 7
enforcement officers to pursue a materially different course in

their investigation from one they otherwise would have pursued

because it sent them in the wrong direction, i.e., a 'wild goose

chase.'"   Tejeda, 476 Mass. at 819, quoting Paquette, 475 Mass.

at 800.

    It is unclear based on the grand jury minutes presented to

the judge whether the police were actually misled or not.     While

that fact may be indicative, it is not dispositive.    The

relevant inquiry is whether the statements by the defendant

reasonably "could lead" the police on a wild goose chase and not

whether the defendant succeeded in actually misleading the

police.    See Commonwealth v. Figueroa, 464 Mass. 365, 373 (2013)

("Where the defendant attempted to mislead his parole officer

with the intent to obstruct her investigation of his possible

                                  8
violation of parole, it does not matter that he failed to

succeed in misleading her").

     Since there was probable cause to believe that the

defendant's statements were misleading, the defendant's motion

to dismiss should have been denied.1

                                    Order dismissing the
                                      indictment of misleading a
                                      police officer vacated.

                                    By the Court (Blake,
                                      Hershfang & D'Angelo, JJ.2),

                                    Clerk

Entered:   February 28, 2023.

1 Since we determine that the motion to dismiss should not have
been allowed on this basis, we need not, and do not, reach the
issue whether the defendant's conduct prior to any law
enforcement involvement could constitute "misleading conduct" as
suggested by the Commonwealth.
2 The panelists are listed in order of seniority.

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