Commonwealth v. Dotson, 462 Mass. 96

Defendant committed disorderly conduct on July 13, 2008 in Dorchester; penalty statute was § 53 as amended through 1988.
On July 22, 2009, defendant was convicted of disorderly conduct and received two years of straight probation.
2009 amendment to § 53 reduced first-offense penalties to a fine; second/subsequent offenses retained possible incarceration.
Defendant moved, under Mass. R. Crim. P. 30(a), to correct illegal sentence arguing probation exceeded the new first-offense maximum.
Appeals Court affirmed conviction and denial of the Rule 30 motion; the Supreme Judicial Court granted further appellate review limited to sentencing.
Probation terminated in June 2010, rendering some aspects of the case moot, but the court proceeded to address the sentencing issue.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Retroactive application of the 2009 amendment to §53	amendment not retroactive to pre-repeal punishment	amendment applies to pending prosecutions and pre-repeal punishments as a benefit	amendment has no retroactive effect on pre-repeal punishment; prior punishment governs
Effect of repeal on punishment incurred before repeal	punishment incurred before repeal stands under the old statute	repeal may alter punishment for pre-repeal offenses	punishment incurred before repeal remained governed by the 2008 statute; no inconsistent application
Mootness of the sentencing issue	case moot because probation terminated	review appropriate due to potential recurring questions	court exercises discretion to address the sentencing issue despite mootness

Nassar v. Commonwealth, 341 Mass. 584 (Mass. 1961) (statutory repeal effects and penalties; implied repeal principles)
Patrick v. Commissioner of Correction, 352 Mass. 666 (Mass. 1967) (timing of punishment incurrence; retroactivity limits)
Commonwealth v. Yee, 361 Mass. 533 (Mass. 1972) (precedent on amendments and punishment})();)
Barzingus v. Wilheim, 306 F.3d 17 (10th Cir. 2010) (not included; example format placeholder)