Commonwealth v. Hernandez

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The Supreme Judicial Court held that the common-law doctrine of abatement ab initio, where a criminal conviction is vacated and the indictment is dismissed after the defendant dies while his direct appeal as of right challenging that conviction is in process, is outdated and that a new approach that is more consonant with the circumstances of contemporary life applies in the present case.In this case, the defendant may have committed suicide to prevent the application of the doctrine of abatement ab initio to benefit surviving family members, heirs, and other beneficiaries. The Supreme Judicial Court reversed the trial court’s order allowing Defendant’s motion to abate prosecution, dismissing Defendant’s notice of appeal, vacating his conviction, and dismissing the indictment and dismissing Defendant’s notice of appeal as moot. The Court held (1) when a defendant dies irrespective of cause while a direct appeal of right challenging his conviction is pending, the proper course is to dismiss the appeal as moot and note in the record that the conviction removed the defendant’s presumption of innocence but that the conviction was neither affirmed nor reversed on appeal because the defendant died; and (2) this approach, which otherwise applies only prospectively, should apply in the instant case. View "Commonwealth v. Hernandez" on Justia Law