Criminal Law Section Submits Comments on Proposed Conditional Guilty Plea Rule

Our Section Steering Committees frequently take the opportunity to comment on proposed new and amended rules and court orders. Members are able to offer important insights from the viewpoint of their particular practice area and expertise, and the courts have a strong history of listening and responding to the concerns and suggestions of the Sections, and their insights are often reflected in the final iterations of the rules.

Earlier this month, the Criminal Law Section, one of the BBA’s most frequent participants in the comment process, submitted comments in response to a proposed amendment to Rule 12 of the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure. The amendment would add a new section allowing the defendant, if the prosecutor agrees, to plead guilty while reserving the right to appeal any ruling that would, if reversed, render the Commonwealth’s case not viable. The proposal was drafted in response to the Supreme Judicial Court decision in Commonwealth v. Gomez, 430 Mass. 240 (2018), which authorized the use of conditional guilty pleas in Massachusetts.

The comments reflect diverse opinions from both prosecutors and defense attorneys, offering suggestions and feedback on those sections related to prosecutorial consent, the “not viable” requirement, and single-charge conditional pleas sentencing issues.  A special thanks goes out to Criminal Law Section Steering Committee members David Rangaviz, of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, and Kaushal Rana of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, for taking the lead in drafting these comments and presenting them to the Executive Committee.

                You can read the full Criminal Law Section comments here. We’ll be keeping an eye out for the final rule, and in the meantime, don’t miss the Criminal Law Section’s upcoming program on Conditional Guilty Pleas on March 20 at the BBA!  

—Alexa Daniel
Legislative and Public Policy Manager
Boston Bar Association