Court Opinion

ID: 9721625
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:03:49.103124+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:27.746241
License: Public Domain

Abrams, J.
(dissenting, with whom Liacos, J., joins). At oral argument, the Commonwealth conceded that “[tjhere is *293no question that the conduct of certain officers from the task force was both outrageous and inexcusable.” Thus, the sole question is whether such outrageous and inexcusable conduct falls within the principles we set out in Commonwealth v. Manning, 373 Mass. 438 (1977). In this case, as in Manning, “[w]e are confronted . . . not with the proverbial constable’s blunder or even with good faith overzealousness in the pursuit of legitimate law enforcement aims. Rather, we have here a deliberate and intentional attack by [Massachusetts] agents on the relationship between [the defendant] and his counsel.” Id. at 443. Although we said “we wish to leave no doubt that such conduct will not be tolerated in our criminal justice system,” id. at 445, today’s decision not only departs from those principles but also condones criminal conduct by the State police.
The State police task force members used Berube to try to obtain the defendant’s confidence and to elicit information from the defendant in at least two separate postindictment interviews, in clear violation of Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201 (1964). See Commonwealth v. Cote, 386 Mass. 354, 360 (1982); Commonwealth v. McCarthy, 348 Mass. 7, 11 (1964). Task force officers themselves made repeated, unauthorized visits to the defendant. At no time did the State police officers ask permission of the defendant or of his counsel to visit with him or to interrogate him about unrelated matters. The State police officers gave Berube a briefcase equipped with an electronic surveillance device and told him to attend the defendant’s motion to suppress hearing and to tape record conversations between the defendant and his attorneys. The Commonwealth alleges that the State police officers did not put batteries in the electronic transmitter. The judge, as the court notes, ante at 288, disbelieved the Commonwealth’s explanation.1
*294The court’s decision also encourages the police to continue to act irresponsibly and illegally by justifying its result because the conduct “was . . . [not] engaged in by anyone belonging to the prosecution team.” Ante at 292. Now, a police agency can do what it wants as long as it does not tell the prosecutor.2
The conduct in this case, when measured “against the misconduct shown in other cases ... in recent years,” Commonwealth v. Light, 394 Mass. 112, 115 (1985), is far more outrageous, egregious, and calculated. Cf. Commonwealth v. Cronk, 396 Mass. 194 (1985) (Commonwealth’s failure to comply with discovery orders not sufficiently egregious); Commonwealth v. Light, supra at 115 (no indication that Commonwealth’s failure to turn over paint test results to defendant in motor vehicle collision was intentional misconduct; retrial ordered); Commonwealth v. Cinelli, 389 Mass. 197, 207-210, cert. denied, 464 U.S. 860 (1983) (single incident of improper postarraignment interview not sufficiently egregious nor of the requisite degree of “deliberateness” and “calculation” to warrant dismissal). The involvement of Massachusetts State police in the illegal conduct is clear. They engaged in the misconduct to further law enforcement goals. As members of the task force, Massachusetts authorities arranged Berube’s meetings with the defendant, met with Berube during the debriefing sessions that followed the interviews, and equipped Berube with the electronic recording device used at the motion to suppress hearing. The State police “have the burden of ‘letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing’ or has done,” Santobello v. New York, 404 U.S. 257, 262 (1971), and the State police as a whole must be held accountable for the misconduct.
“The specific misconduct present in this case is particularly troublesome because only when the importunings of government agents are unsuccessful will the matter come to the attention of the courts.” Manning, supra at 444. In refusing to dismiss the indictments against King, the court today fulfils *295its own prophecy and becomes “the instrumentality through which government agents may effectuate threats to defendants regarding the consequences of asserting constitutional rights.” Id. at 444.
The behavior of the State police officers in this case was intolerably exploitive and coercive against a person held in lieu of bail. I would dismiss the indictments against the defendant without a showing of prejudice.3I dissent.

The State police did not obtain an electronic eavesdropping warrant, and violated G. L. c. 272, § 99 C 1. See Commonwealth v. Blood, ante 61, 67 (1987). On the record before us, the Commonwealth has not made any effort to prosecute the officers involved, even for attempted violation of G. L. c. 272, § 99. The likelihood of such a prosecution diminishes as a result of the court’s decision.

 Or, more accurately, as long as a defendant is unable to prove knowledge on the part of the prosecutor.

 I think the court’s statement in note 4, ante at 292, that “it is fairly arguable that a rule calling for the dismissal of an indictment despite lack of prejudice or threat thereof is not necessary to deter police misconduct because, in the usual course, a police officer’s only motive to engage in misconduct is to prejudice the defendant” is naive. Certainly, gathering information from defendants about other criminal suspects is a strong police motive. The court’s decision ignores that motive and allows the police free rein to pursue these interests as long as they do not inform the prosecutor of their intended misconduct.