Commonwealth v. MacBarron
Commonwealth v. MacBarron
Opinion of the Court
Following a probation violation hearing in the Superior Court, the defendant, Shawn MacBarron, was found in violation of his probation and sentenced to four to five years in State prison. In this appeal, the defendant claims that there was insufficient evidence to support the violation and that his counsel provided ineffective assistance. We affirm.
Background. The defendant is a level three registered sex offender, who was on probation for possession of child pornography. As a condition of probation, the defendant was to have no unsupervised contact with a child under the age of fourteen. The probation department filed a notice of surrender alleging that the defendant violated this term of probation and a hearing was conducted in November, 2015.
The evidence at the revocation hearing established that in July, 2015, the defendant was working at his father's booth at the Fall River Flea Market. Ronald Durand, another probationer who participated in group therapy with the defendant, was also present at the flea market. Durand observed the defendant sitting face-to-face with a young boy who appeared to be between seven and ten years old. The two were sitting close enough to each other to allow their knees to almost touch. The defendant was talking to this child periodically throughout the day, without any other persons present. In total, the defendant spoke to the child for approximately five minutes. At the following group therapy session, Durand told the defendant that the defendant had to disclose his contact with the child to their therapist. The defendant did so, claiming that he knew the child's parents and that the child's father asked the defendant to speak to his son because he was having problems with anxiety and depression. The defendant also claimed that the child's father was present at the flea market, although the father was not close enough to hear their conversation. The evidence at the revocation hearing also included video surveillance from the flea market where the defendant is seen conversing with the child four separate times throughout the day.
Discussion. 1. Insufficient evidence. The defendant argues that the evidence at his revocation hearing was insufficient to support a finding by a preponderance of the evidence that he violated his probation by having unsupervised contact with a child under the age of fourteen. See Commonwealth v. Holmgren,
2. Ineffective assistance of counsel. The defendant claims he received ineffective assistance of counsel because his defense counsel failed to call witnesses at the violation hearing who could verify the defendant was supervised while talking to the child. We review claims of ineffective assistance of counsel using the two-prong test outlined in Commonwealth v. Saferian,
Here, the defendant has failed to meet his burden of proof because he did not file an affidavit from defense counsel explaining counsel's strategy at the revocation hearing. Without such a statement, we cannot conclude that defense counsel's failure to call these witnesses at the revocation hearing was a manifestly unreasonable tactical decision. See Commonwealth v. Acevedo,
Nor has the defendant produced an affidavit from the child's father, or the man who allegedly agreed to supervise the defendant at the flea market, indicating that the testimony of these witnesses would have benefited his case. See Commonwealth v. Ortega,
Lastly, assuming arguendo that the decision not to call these witnesses was manifestly unreasonable, the defendant cannot meet the second prong for an ineffective assistance claim. Even if these witnesses had testified at the hearing, the record indicates other sufficient evidence that the defendant had unsupervised contact with the minor. Accordingly, the defendant has not shown that failure to procure these witnesses deprived him of a "substantial ground of defence." Saferian,
Order revoking probation affirmed.
Given the sufficiency of this evidence, and the judge's careful findings made at the hearing, the defendant's argument that the judge failed to consider the minimal nature of his violation and speculative arguments made by the Commonwealth, thereby violating his rights to due process, is without merit. See Commonwealth v. Durling,
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.