The defendant and Antonio Vieira were indicted for the murder in the first degree of Forrest O. Burris. After a jury trial, the defendant was convicted of that crime on June 5, 1985, and sentenced to life imprisonment. The Commonwealth nolle prossed the indictment against Vieira on June 25, 1987. On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial judge erred in denying his motion to dismiss the indictment due to insufficient evidence before the grand jury and in denying his motion to dismiss under Mass. R. Crim. P. 36 (b) (1) (c),
The defendant’s first contention is that the evidence heard by the grand jury was insufficient to establish probable cause to arrest him and that, therefore, the judge erred in denying the defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment. We have held that, to justify an indictment, “at the very least the grand jury must hear sufficient evidence to establish the identity of the accused . . . and probable cause to arrest him.”
Commonwealth
v.
O’Dell, 392
Mass. 445, 450 (1984), quoting
Commonwealth
v.
McCarthy,
The defendant’s next contention is that the judge should have dismissed the indictment because of the Commonwealth’s delay in bringing him to trial in violation of Mass. R. Crim. P. 36 (b) (1) (c). The defendant was arrested on August 19, 1983, and remained under arrest until his arraignment on August 30. He was brought to trial one year and 266 days later on May 23, 1985.
Rule 36 (b), as it applies to this case, requires that a defendant shall be tried within twelve months after the “return day,” and if the defendant is not tried within that period, as it may be extended by subdivision (b) (2) of the rule, the defendant “shall be entitled upon motion to a dismissal of the charges.” Rule 36 (b) (1). “ ‘Return Day’ means the day upon which a defendant is ordered by summons to first appear or, if under arrest, does first appear before a court to answer to the charges against him, whichever is earlier.” Mass. R. Crim. P. 2 (b) (15),
According to the docket entries, the defendant filed his rule 36 (b) motion on May 22, 1985. The motion first came to the judge’s attention on May 23, the date scheduled for trial. Contrary to Mass. R. Crim. P. 13 (a) (2) and (4), no affidavit of the factual basis of the motion was attached, and the motion was not accompanied by a memorandum of law. The judge informed defense counsel that he would take the motion under advisement and that he would like “a brief and some proposed findings.” Trial commenced that day, May 23, and continued until June 5. On June 4, the defendant filed a document entitled, “Suggested Findings on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss,” requesting the judge to “find” that the defendant had not been brought to trial within twelve months after the return day “as required by Mass. R. Crim. P. 36 (b) (1),” that the Commonwealth had produced nothing justifying the delay, that the delay was unjustified and that the motion to dismiss be allowed. Also, on June 4, First Assistant District Attorney Raymond P. Veary, Jr., who, according to the docket, alone represented the Commonwealth throughout the proceedings in the trial court, filed a memorandum in the Commonwealth’s behalf in opposition to the motion to dismiss. That memorandum set forth detailed information concerning the procedural history of the case, focusing especially on the fact that the defendant had sought, agreed to, or benefited by various identified continuances.
On June 5, after the evidence had closed and before closing jury arguments, the judge, declining to rule on the motion to dismiss, said that he was still waiting for a brief from the defendant, that he was not going to delay sending the case to the jury, and that he would hold the motion under advisement
The defendant did not claim in the trial court and does not claim on appeal that the factual assertions in the prosecutor’s memorandum relative to the defendant’s requests for or agreements to continuances are untrue. He does not suggest that he now has or ever did have any evidence to controvert those assertions. Rather, the thrust of the defendant’s argument is that there are “crucial disparities” between the docket entries and clerk’s notes and minutes, on the one hand, and the prosecutor’s unsworn memorandum, on the other. In the circumstances, he says, had he been permitted to argue his motion before the judge in keeping with the judge’s promise, he could have successfully argued that the prosecutor’s memorandum cannot enhance the docket entries and clerk’s notes and minutes, and that those entries and notes and minutes are not enough to sustain the Commonwealth’s burden to prove that the 266 days in excess of a one-year delay was justified.
We begin with the proposition that, because the defendant’s motion was not accompanied by an affidavit bearing on the critical facts at issue and a memorandum of law as required by Mass. R. Crim. P. 13 (a) (2) and (4), the defendant was not entitled to be heard on the motion. Furthermore, the argument that the defendant now makes, and presumably would have presented to the trial judge, lacks merit. It is true that, in many instances, the docket entries and clerk’s notes and minutes are silent with respect to whether the defendant acquiesced in various continuances or benefited from them, and therefore, standing alone, they do not carry the Commonwealth’s burden to establish justification for the delay. However, the prosecutor’s memorandum, which in no way contradicts the docket entries and clerk’s notes, supplements them
The defendant also argues that it was reversible error for the judge to fail to decide the motion to dismiss before the defendant was placed in jeopardy. He points to Mass. R. Crim. P. 15,
The defendant next contends that he received ineffective assistance of counsel (appellate counsel was not trial counsel), in violation of his Federal and State constitutional rights because his trial counsel failed to file motions to suppress evidence including evidence of statements that allegedly were obtained illegally. Under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, a convicted defendant must show both that “counsel’s representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness” and that the defendant was prejudiced by the deficient performance.
Strickland
v.
Washington,
As background for our discussion of the defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel argument, we set out facts that the trial jury could have found that bear on the challenged statements and the seizure of challenged evidence: Burris’s body was discovered on the living room floor of his New Bedford apartment on the morning of August 12, 1983. A knife protruded from his chest and an electrical cord was twisted around his neck. Blood covered his shirt, neck, and face, and stained the surrounding carpet. The apartment was in disarray. The State pathologist conducted a post-mortem examination of the victim and concluded that the victim had died of multiple stab wounds to the chest.
In the course of their investigation into the slaying, the attention of Sergeant John Dextradeur and Detective Michael Wood of the New Bedford police department was drawn to the defendant. At 11 p.m. on August 12, 1983, they located the defendant at the New Bedford home of Antonio Vieira. The defendant and Vieira agreed to go to police headquarters for an interview. After arriving at police headquarters, the defendant was given a “Department Issue” Miranda warning form. The defendant read the form, stated in response to a question that he understood it, and signed it.
In response to questioning, the defendant told the police that he had been in the victim’s apartment on August 4, 1983, and subsequently returned on August 6, 1983, to clean the carpets in the apartment, for which he received $20. The defendant then described his activities on the evening of August 11,1983. He stated that, at approximately 4:15 p.m., he had gone to his mother’s house in Fairhaven in order to wash and change his clothes. He was accompanied by Antonio Vieira. He said that the clothes he was wearing at the time of the interview were the clothes he had changed into at his mother’s house. After forty-five minutes at his mother’s house, he and Vieira obtained
The police interviewed the defendant until approximately 1:30 a.m. on August 13, 1983. Following the interview, Sergeant Dextradeur obtained a warrant to search Vieira’s home. Pursuant to the warrant, the police seized several articles of clothing and footwear. Some of these items, including the laces in the sneakers, were stained with blood that later was determined to be of human origin.
The defendant contends that he was prejudiced by his counsel’s unreasonable failure to make a motion to suppress statements made by the defendant when he was questioned by the police on the night of August 12 to 13, 1983. Although defense counsel did not file a pretrial motion to suppress, the record makes clear that defense counsel orally moved during trial for a voir dire on the admissibility of the defendant’s statements. He stated that, if the court did not rule the statements inadmissible on evidentiary grounds, “I believe the Court has to hold a hearing or a voir dire of the voluntariness of this statement which the defendant might have made to the police officer and [I] file a motion at this time.” The court held a voir dire, and concluded that the statements had been made voluntarily. Such a conclusion, to be proper, must be based on evidence both that the requirements of
Miranda
v.
Arizona,
The defendant also argues that his counsel should have moved to suppress his statements on the ground that he was not informed of his right to use the telephone as guaranteed by G. L. c. 276, § 33A. Section 33A requires that an “arrested person” be informed of his right to use a telephone. However, the defendant has failed to establish the facts on which his argument is predicated, namely that he was under arrest at the police station or that he was not informed of his right to use a telephone. It is not the role of this court to decide such questions of fact. In any event, there is no evidence in the record that would support a conclusion that the defendant was under arrest during questioning on the night of August 12 and 13. On the contrary, there is considerable record evidence that he was not under arrest at that time.
The defendant also contends that his counsel should have moved to suppress the evidence seized from Vieira’s house on the morning of August 13. He argues that the statements obtained by the police at the station on the night of August 12 and 13 were essential to the affidavit supporting the search warrant. Since those statements were obtained unlawfully, he argues, the search was unlawful too. The defendant’s argument fails for two reasons: Because the defendant did not live in the Vieira apartment and was not present at the time of the search, he has no standing to challenge the search and seizure.
Commonwealth
v.
Mora,
The defendant urges us to exercise our extraordinary power under G. L. c. 278, § 33E, to reverse his conviction because the case was tried by the Commonwealth on a theory that the defendant engaged in a joint venture with Vieira, but the judge did not instruct the jury that the Commonwealth had the burden to prove Vieira’s guilt of murder in the first degree beyond a reasonable doubt. The judge was not required to give that instruction. The judge’s instruction adequately explained joint venture to the jury, emphasizing the necessity of the defendant’s active participation and sharing with the coventurer the state of mind required for murder in the first degree.
Lastly, the defendant contends that justice requires the reversal of his conviction because, on June 25, 1987, the Commonwealth nolle pressed the murder indictment against Vieira on the ground that it had insufficient evidence to convict him. There was no injustice to the defendant. The Commonwealth did have sufficient evidence to convict the defendant. In any event, as the Commonwealth explains in its brief, the defendant’s out-of-court statements implicating both Vieira and himself were admissible against the defendant. They would not have been admissible against Vieira.
We have reviewed the whole case. We conclude that there is no basis for relief under G. L. c. 278, § 33E.
Judgment affirmed.
