Commonwealth v. Ronyvan v. Goncalves. ( 2023 )

NOTICE: Summary decisions issued by the Appeals Court pursuant to M.A.C. Rule
23.0, as appearing in 97 Mass. App. Ct. 1017 (2020) (formerly known as rule 1:28,
as amended by 73 Mass. App. Ct. 1001 [2009]), are primarily directed to the parties
and, therefore, may not fully address the facts of the case or the panel's
decisional rationale. Moreover, such decisions are not circulated to the entire
court and, therefore, represent only the views of the panel that decided the case.
A summary decision pursuant to rule 23.0 or rule 1:28 issued after February 25,
2008, may be cited for its persuasive value but, because of the limitations noted
above, not as binding precedent. See Chace v. Curran, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 258, 260
n.4 (2008).
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
APPEALS COURT
22-P-515
COMMONWEALTH
vs.
RONYVAN V. GONCALVES.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 23.0
In this direct appeal from convictions, after a jury trial,
of various crimes1 stemming from events at a car dealership in
1 On September 8, 2009, the defendant was charged with three
counts of breaking and entering a vehicle in the nighttime with
an intent to commit a felony, G. L. c. 266, § 16, two counts of
malicious destruction of property over $250, G. L. c. 266,
§ 127, two counts of assault and battery on a police officer,
G. L. c. 265, § 13D, one count of mistreating or interfering
with a police dog, G. L. c. 272, § 77A, one count of attempt to
commit a crime (to wit, larceny over $250), G. L. c. 274, § 6,
one count of larceny under $250, G. L. c. 266, § 30 (1), one
count of possession of burglarious instruments, G. L. c. 266,
§ 49, one count of resisting arrest, G. L. c. 268, § 32B, one
count of conspiracy, G. L. c. 274, § 7, and one count of
receiving a stolen motor vehicle, G. L. c. 266, § 28 (a). He
pleaded guilty to the charges in November 2009, but subsequently
filed a motion to vacate his plea and for new trial, which was
allowed on February 4, 2018. The jury trial from which the
current appeal stems occurred in August 2019. The jury found
the defendant guilty of two counts of breaking and entering a
vehicle in the nighttime with an intent to commit a felony, two
counts of malicious destruction of property over $250, one count
of assault and battery on a police officer, mistreating or
the early morning hours of September 5, 2009, the defendant
argues that the evidence was insufficient to support the
convictions, and that the prosecutor argued facts not in
evidence during closing argument. With the exception of the
conviction of assault and battery on a police officer, we
affirm.2
Background. We recite the Commonwealth's evidence,
together with the reasonable inferences to be drawn from it, in
the light most favorable to the Commonwealth. See Commonwealth
v. Latimore, 378 Mass. 671, 677 (1979). Responding to a call at
2:16 A.M. on September 5, 2009, a uniformed police officer went
to a car dealership where he saw the defendant standing in
between rows of cars parked in the dealership's lot. The
officer heard a loud, metallic banging, and then saw the
defendant throw something away, producing a similar metallic
sound. Those items turned out to be lug nuts. The windows of
two vehicles near where the defendant had been standing were
"smashed out," and one vehicle had been jacked up with "a heavy-
interfering with a police dog, attempt to commit a crime,
larceny under $250, and resisting arrest.
2 The Commonwealth concedes, and we agree, that the evidence was
insufficient to support the charge of assault and battery on
Officer Steven Somers, which rested on a theory of recklessness.
The Commonwealth has acknowledged that it failed to prove beyond
a reasonable doubt that the officer received more than a
trifling or transient injury. See Commonwealth v. Burno, 396
Mass. 622, 626-627 (1986).
2
duty floor jack."3 In addition, one of the vehicles had a
screwdriver jammed into the lock on the driver's side door, and
there were several loose lug nuts on the ground around the cars.
The officer announced himself as a police officer,
approached the defendant while pointing his gun, and instructed
the defendant to get down on the ground. Instead, the defendant
fled, running across the car lot to an area with briars, and
then into the woods. As the officer gave chase, a white U-Haul
van came from around the back of the dealership and sped out of
the lot. The officer called for a K-9 officer to help locate
the defendant.
A K-9 officer who happened to be in the area saw a white
van driving erratically and enter the highway going in the wrong
direction at almost the same time as he received the call to
respond to the dealership. The K-9 officer decided not to
follow the van given the danger involved in chasing a vehicle
going the wrong direction on a highway, and instead went to the
dealership.
The two officers then went into the woods where the
defendant had entered, and the police dog picked up a human
3 An employee of the dealership testified that replacing a
smashed window would cost about $500 between parts and labor,
replacing a set of regular lug nuts would be about $5 to $10
dollars, and replacing a set of locking lug nuts would be
between $75 and $80 dollars.
3
scent. The K-9 officer announced repeatedly and loudly that
they were the police, that they had a police dog, and that the
dog would bite if the defendant did not reveal himself first.
This is what, in fact, transpired because the defendant did not
emerge from his hiding spot. The dog located the defendant, bit
him, and hung on, as trained. The defendant repeatedly struck
the officers and the dog, and continued to do so even after he
had been instructed to stop. Ultimately, the defendant stopped
fighting only when he was sprayed with mace or pepper spray and,
at that point, the police dog released him.
The next day, police found the white van, which had been
stolen from a U-Haul dealer. The defendant's cousin was the
driver of the van, and inside was a wheel with a tire and a
global positioning system (GPS) unit that had been taken from a
vehicle at the dealership.
The defendant testified in his own defense, essentially
claiming that his cousin had taken him to the dealership without
any explanation, and that he had remained in the van while his
cousin had gone into the dealership lot. Notably, the
defendant's testimony corroborated significant portions of the
Commonwealth's case, such as that he was at the dealership on
the night in question with his cousin, that his cousin had
picked him up in a U-Haul van, that he heard a banging noise
while at the dealership, that he saw his cousin "jacking" one of
4
the cars, that he (the defendant) threw some lug nuts into the
woods, and that he ran into the woods, where he eventually was
located by a police dog and two officers.
Discussion. Sufficiency of the evidence. "When reviewing
a motion for a required finding of not guilty, the 'question is
whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable
to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found
the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.'"
Commonwealth v. Grassie, 476 Mass. 202, 207 (2017), S.C. 482
Mass. 1017 (2019), quoting Latimore, 378 Mass. at 677. "Proof
of the essential elements of the crime may be based on
reasonable inferences drawn from the evidence, . . . and the
inferences a jury may draw need only be reasonable and possible
and need not be necessary or inescapable." Commonwealth v.
Kapaia, 490 Mass. 787, 791 (2022), quoting Commonwealth v. West,
487 Mass. 794, 800 (2021). "[I]n order to convict on
circumstantial evidence, it is not necessary to show that it was
not in the power of any other person than the defendant to
commit the crime." Cramer v. Commonwealth, 419 Mass. 106, 112
(1994), quoting Commonwealth v. Fancy, 349 Mass. 196, 200
(1965). "The relevant question is whether the evidence would
permit a jury to find guilt, not whether the evidence requires
such a finding." Commonwealth v. Norris, 483 Mass. 681, 685
5
(2019), quoting Commonwealth v. Brown, 401 Mass. 745, 747
(1988).
"Because the defendant moved for required findings at
the close of the Commonwealth's case and again at the close
of all the evidence, [w]e consider the state of the
evidence at the close of the Commonwealth's case to
determine whether the defendant's motion should have been
granted at that time. We also consider the state of the
evidence at the close of all the evidence, to determine
whether the Commonwealth's position as to proof
deteriorated after it closed its case" (quotation omitted).
West, 487 Mass. at 799-800, quoting Commonwealth v. O'Laughlin,
446 Mass. 188, 198 (2006). "Deterioration occurs 'not because
the defendant contradicted the Commonwealth's evidence . . . but
because evidence for the Commonwealth necessary to warrant
submission of the case to the jury is later shown to be
incredible or conclusively incorrect.'" Commonwealth v. Merry,
453 Mass. 653, 663 (2009), quoting O'Laughlin, supra at 203.
As to the breaking and entering charge,4 the defendant
argues that the evidence was insufficient to permit the jury to
4 To prove the defendant guilty of breaking and entering a
vehicle during the nighttime,
"the Commonwealth must prove four things beyond a
reasonable doubt: [1] [t]hat the defendant broke into a
[vehicle] belonging to another person; [2] [t]hat the
defendant entered that [vehicle]; [3] [t]hat the defendant
did so with the intent to commit a felony in that
[vehicle]; and [4] [t]hat this event took place during the
nighttime."
8.100 Model Jury Instructions for Use in the District Court
(2009). "A defendant's intent to commit a felonious larceny may
be proved in a number of ways." Commonwealth v. Hill, 57 Mass.
6
find that he was the person who broke into and damaged the
vehicles, or that he had stolen anything. Although it is true
that no one testified that they saw the defendant break into the
cars, direct testimony was not required. The defendant's
proximity to the damaged cars, in the middle of the night, with
lug nuts in his hand, while one car was still jacked up, was
enough to permit the jury to infer that he was the person who
had damaged the cars with the intent to steal GPS equipment, and
that he had removed lug nuts in order to steal tires. These
inferences were buttressed by the fact that the GPS unit located
in the van driven by the defendant's cousin, contemporaneously
present on the scene on the same night, had been stolen from a
car at the dealership.
As to the charges of malicious destruction of property with
a value over $250,5 attempt to commit the crime of larceny over
App. Ct. 240, 247 (2003). See Commonwealth v. Lauzier, 53 Mass.
App. Ct. 626, 629 (2002) ("intent may be inferred from the
actual commission of the felonious act . . . as well as from the
circumstances attending the act" [quotation omitted]).
5 As the Supreme Judicial Court explained:
"The felony offense of malicious destruction of property
valued at over $250 has four essential elements, which must
be proved beyond a reasonable doubt: the defendant injured
or destroyed the personal property . . . of another; the
defendant did so willfully; the defendant did so with
malice; the value of the property so injured or destroyed
exceeded $250."
7
$250,6 and larceny under $250, the defendant similarly argues
that the absence of direct evidence that he was the person who
destroyed the cars, or that they had been destroyed on the night
in question (as opposed to some earlier date), or that he took
or carried anything away, required a finding in his favor. For
the same reasons we have set out above, the defendant's argument
fails to persuade us. The jury could use its common sense to
infer from the defendant's presence in the lot of a closed
dealership, in the middle of the night, while a repeated
metallic banging occurred, with lug nuts in his hand, standing
next to cars whose windows had been smashed, one having a
screwdriver jammed into the lock, that he had caused the
destruction to the vehicles on that evening, that he was
attempting to steal wheels or tires, and that he had, in fact,
Commonwealth v. DeBerry, 441 Mass. 211, 215 n.7 (2004). "Where
repairable damage or destruction is caused to a portion or
portions of a greater whole, the value of the property damaged
or destroyed is to be measured by the reasonable cost of the
repairs necessitated by the malicious conduct." Id. at 221-222,
quoting Nichols v. United States, 343 A.2d 336, 342 (D.C. 1975).
6 "The crime of attempt consists of the intent to commit the
underlying crime coupled with an overt act." Commonwealth v.
Green, 66 Mass. App. Ct. 901, 903 (2006), quoting Commonwealth
v. Horton, 434 Mass. 823, 836 (2001). "Larceny is the taking
without right of the personal property of another with the
specific intent to deprive the other of the property
permanently." Commonwealth v. Murray, 401 Mass. 771, 772
(1988).
8
caused the GPS unit located in the van to be taken and carried
away.
As to the charge of resisting arrest,7 the defendant points
to his own testimony to argue that he merely struggled with the
police dog and does not remember having physical contact with
the officers. But our task here is to view the evidence under
the familiar Latimore standard. Taken in that light, the
evidence permitted the jury to find that the defendant
repeatedly struck the officers, despite being told to stop
resisting arrest.
Closing. During closing argument, the prosecutor stated
that "[t]he defendant was caught red-handed at the . . .
dealership in the process of stealing tires." The defendant
7 Pursuant to G. L. c. 268, § 32B (a),
"A person commits the crime of resisting arrest if he
knowingly prevents or attempts to prevent a police officer,
acting under color of his official authority, from
effecting an arrest of the actor or another, by: (1) using
or threatening to use physical force or violence against
the police officer or another; or (2) using any other means
which creates a substantial risk of causing bodily injury
to such police officer or another."
"Fleeing from, or even resisting, a stop or patfrisk does not
constitute the crime of resisting arrest." Commonwealth v.
Grant, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 205, 209 (2008). Officers intending to
effect an arrest must "objectively communicate[] that intention
to the defendant prior to, or during, the pursuit" in order "to
satisfy the requirement that a defendant understand he is being
arrested." Id. at 209-210.
9
lodged a timely objection on the ground that the evidence merely
showed that the defendant was observed holding lug nuts in his
hand, not that he was observed stealing tires. Because the
defendant timely objected, we review to determine whether there
was error and, if so, whether the error was prejudicial, "i.e.,
'whether we can say with fair assurance that the error did not
influence the jury, or had but very slight effect'" (quotation
omitted). Commonwealth v. Correia, 65 Mass. App. Ct. 27, 31 n.4
(2005), quoting Commonwealth v. McCoy, 59 Mass. App. Ct. 284,
290 (2003).
The prosecutor did not stray beyond the permissible bounds
of argument. As we have already noted, the evidence easily
permitted the jury to infer from the fact that the defendant had
lug nuts in his hand while standing next to a jacked-up car in
the middle of the night in the lot of a closed dealership, that
he was in the process of stealing tires. Prosecutors may argue
"forcefully for a conviction based on the evidence and on
inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence."
Commonwealth v. Carriere, 470 Mass. 1, 19 (2014), quoting
Commonwealth v. Kozec, 399 Mass. 514, 516 (1987). Arguments
"ask[ing] the jury to draw an inference that was 'reasonable and
possible'" are not erroneous even if the inference does not
"flow[] inevitably from the evidence." Commonwealth v.
10
Mazariego, 474 Mass. 42, 58 (2016), quoting Commonwealth v.
Marquetty, 416 Mass. 445, 452 (1993).
Conclusion. On count six of the complaint charging assault
and battery on a police officer, the judgment is reversed, the
verdict is set aside, and judgment shall enter for the
defendant. The remaining judgments are affirmed.
So ordered.
By the Court (Green, C.J.,
Wolohojian &
Sullivan, JJ.8),
Clerk
Entered: June 2, 2023.
8 The panelists are listed in order of seniority.
11