Commonwealth v. Mercado
Commonwealth v. Mercado
Opinion of the Court
The defendant, Felipe S. Mercado, appeals from the order denying a motion to withdraw his 1996 guilty pleas to attempting to commit a crime, resisting arrest, indecent assault and battery on a person fourteen years or older, and assault and battery. We affirm.
A motion to withdraw a guilty plea, which is treated as a motion for a new trial pursuant to Mass.R.Crim.P. 30(b), as appearing in
The defendant claims that the plea judge erred when he conducted a "group colloquy," which did not enable the judge to inquire into the voluntariness of the plea or ascertain that the defendant had knowledge of the elements of the charges against him. See Commonwealth v. Correa,
In 1996, the defendant tendered guilty pleas in three different cases with different docket numbers. At the hearing on his motion to withdraw his pleas, the defendant testified that he perceived the colloquy to have happened quickly and that he recalled all of the charges on all of the dockets being read at once and not individually.
The defendant's claim that the denial of his motion to withdraw his pleas was in error because there was newly discovered evidence that the victim recanted her allegations is also without merit. "The credibility, weight, and impact of the affidavits in support of the motion are entirely within the judge's discretion." Commonwealth v. Pingaro,
We decline to disturb the assessment by the motion judge of the victim's assertions, made nearly twenty years after the crimes, and to which she did not testify in court. The claims made in the victim's affidavit contradicted statements made to the police by the victim and another witness on the night of the crimes, observations made by the police that night, and the physical evidence, including photographed physical injuries to the victim and her torn clothing. This conclusion is further bolstered by the defendant's testimony that during the plea colloquy he agreed that the facts recited by the prosecutor were accurate and that these facts were essentially what had occurred. As we discern no error of law or other abuse of discretion, we affirm the order denying the defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty pleas.
So ordered.
Affirmed.
In the defendant's brief he argues that adding to the confusion was the group colloquy that the plea judge held at the time. This practice was confirmed by the trial prosecutor, Attorney Donald G. Xenos, II, who regularly appeared before the plea judge, John Curran, and submitted an affidavit stating that it was Judge Curran's regular practice to first conduct a group colloquy where he would inform all defendants pleading guilty that day of the rights they would waive, and then conduct a complete plea colloquy with each individual defendant including an explanation of the rights waived, discussion of the crimes to which the defendant was pleading guilty, a factual recitation by the prosecutor, and all of the other requirements of Mass.R.Crim.P. 12, as appearing in
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.