Commonwealth v. Silvelo

• Decision Date: 14 October 2020
• Docket Number: SJC-12866
• Citation: 486 Mass. 13,154 N.E.3d 904
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. Deron N. SILVELO.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

486 Mass. 13

154 N.E.3d 904

COMMONWEALTH

v.Deron N. SILVELO.

SJC-12866

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Essex..

Argued March 2, 2020.

Decided October 14, 2020.

Michelle A. Dame, Springfield, for the defendant.

Catherine P. Sullivan, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.

Present: Gants, C.J., Lenk, Gaziano, Lowy, Budd, Cypher, & Kafker, JJ.¹

LOWY, J.

The defendant was convicted by a jury of carrying a firearm without a license and possessing a loaded firearm.² His trial took place before our decision in Commonwealth v. Brown, 479 Mass. 600, 601, 97 N.E.3d 349 (2018), in which we concluded that in order to convict a defendant of unlawful possession of a loaded firearm, G. L. c. 269, § 10 (n ), the Commonwealth has to prove that the defendant knew that the firearm was loaded. Thus, the judge did not instruct the jury on this element of the crime. The Appeals Court affirmed the convictions, and we granted the defendant's application for further appellate review. See Commonwealth v. Silvelo, 96 Mass. App. Ct. 85, 86-87, 132 N.E.3d 1050 (2019).

The defendant contends that (1) the motion judge erred in denying the defendant's motion to suppress the firearm; (2) there was insufficient evidence to sustain the conviction of possession of a loaded firearm; (3) the failure to instruct that jury that the defendant had to know that the firearm was loaded created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice on that charge; and (4) the prosecutor's closing arguments contained misconduct that created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice.

We affirm the motion judge's denial of the motion to suppress. We also determine that the evidence was so overwhelming that we have no serious doubt that a rational jury could have concluded that the defendant knew that the revolver he possessed was loaded had the judge properly instructed them, and therefore, we affirm the conviction under G. L. c. 269, § 10 (n ). Commonwealth v. Lutskov, 480 Mass. 575, 581, 106 N.E.3d 632 (2018).

1. Background. At around 11:15 P.M. on March 16, 2014, a State police trooper initiated a vehicle stop on a busy interstate highway due to an invalid inspection status. Once the car stopped, the trooper approached from the passenger's side to avoid traffic. While approaching, he observed at least four people in the back seat, including children or infants, and he noticed the defendant in the front passenger's seat attempting to fasten a seat belt. Consequently, the trooper requested identification not only from the driver, but also from the defendant.

As the defendant reached for his identification, the trooper observed a black object, which he believed to be a weapon because of its size and color, fall out of the defendant's pocket between his seat and the center console. The trooper returned to his cruiser and discovered that the defendant had outstanding warrants. Rather than act by himself on that information, the trooper requested backup. When backup arrived, the trooper arrested the defendant on the warrants, handcuffed him, and placed him in the cruiser. The trooper immediately searched the front passenger's seat area of the stopped car and found a revolver. He flipped open the revolver portion and saw four of the chamber's five openings filled with ammunition.

2. Discussion. a. Motion to suppress. The defendant appeals from the order denying his motion to suppress the firearm evidence as fruits of an unconstitutional automobile search.³ "In reviewing a ruling on a motion to suppress, we accept the judge's subsidiary findings of fact absent clear error but conduct an independent review of his ultimate findings and conclusions of law" (quotation and citation omitted). Commonwealth v. Perkins, 465 Mass. 600, 601, 989 N.E.2d 854 (2013), quoting Commonwealth v. Scott, 440 Mass. 642, 646, 801 N.E.2d 233 (2004).

At the hearing on the motion, the trooper testified on direct examination that he saw a dark object he believed to be a firearm fall from the defendant's pocket. On cross-examination, the trooper indicated that he was not one hundred percent sure that it was a firearm. He testified that he saw "[a] dark object that could resemble a weapon." The motion judge credited the trooper's testimony and found that the trooper observed the "defendant remove[ ] what appeared to be a gun from his pants pocket.". The motion judge determined that the trooper's concern for his own safety reasonably justified the protective sweep of a vehicle pursuant to Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 30, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).

Under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and art. 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, warrantless searches are presumptively "unreasonable ... subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions."

Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332, 338, 129 S.Ct. 1710, 173 L.Ed.2d 485 (2009), quoting Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). See also Perkins, 465 Mass. at 603, 989 N.E.2d 854. Because the trooper had no search warrant, the Commonwealth bears the burden of establishing that the stop and frisk "exception[ ] to the warrant requirement" applies.⁴ Perkins, supra at 603, 989 N.E.2d 854.

The "stop and frisk" exception to the warrant requirement permits a police officer without probable cause both to stop a vehicle, and to "conduct a limited [vehicle] search for weapons if ... ‘reasonably prudent’ " people in the officer's position would justifiably fear for their safety or that of other persons. Commonwealth v. Daniel, 464 Mass. 746, 752, 985 N.E.2d 843 (2013), quoting Commonwealth v. Silva, 366 Mass. 402, 406, 318 N.E.2d 895 (1974). See Commonwealth v. Manha, 479 Mass. 44, 49, 91 N.E.3d 669 (2018) (Terry-type protective sweep may extend to limited search of automobile). The officer's fear must be grounded in "specific, articulable facts and reasonable inferences drawn therefrom" (citation omitted). Commonwealth v. Edwards, 476 Mass. 341, 345, 67 N.E.3d 1224 (2017). To determine reasonableness, we "balanc[e] the need to search ... against the invasion which the search ... entails" (citation omitted). Silva, 366 Mass. at 405, 318 N.E.2d 895.

Warrantless searches of vehicles are justified where an officer would reasonably fear that the defendant may possess a weapon or that there is a weapon in the vehicle. See Daniel, 464 Mass. at 752, 985 N.E.2d 843. Even where the officers ask the defendant to get out of the vehicle, they may reasonably fear for their safety because any other occupant may access a weapon left behind by the defendant, or the defendant may access a weapon left behind upon returning to the vehicle. See Commonwealth v. Santiago, 53 Mass. App. Ct. 567, 571, 760 N.E.2d 800 (2002) (officer "not required to risk becoming a victim upon the suspect's reentry into the vehicle").

Although the trooper here had already arrested the defendant prior to the search, and the defendant could not return to the vehicle to access a weapon, the evidence nevertheless supports the motion judge's conclusion that a reasonable officer would continue to have safety concerns under the circumstances. Contrast Edwards, 476 Mass. at 349, 67 N.E.3d 1224. The trooper observed a weapon fall from the defendant's pocket when he first approached the vehicle. See Commonwealth v. Robbins, 407 Mass. 147, 152, 552 N.E.2d 77 (1990) (protective search of automobile justified because police saw wooden object consistent with weapon handle). Given that other adults remained in the vehicle after the trooper arrested the defendant, the trooper's concern that the revolver "could [still] be used against" him was reasonable. Id. The search was therefore constitutionally permissible because a "reasonably prudent" trooper would not only have personal safety concerns, but also would appreciate that the other passengers might retrieve the weapon and harm the trooper, themselves, or others. Daniel, 464 Mass. at 752, 985 N.E.2d 843, quoting Silva, 366 Mass. at 406, 318 N.E.2d 895. See Commonwealth v. Graham, 78 Mass. App. Ct. 127, 129, 935 N.E.2d 370 (2010).⁵

b. Erroneous jury instruction. Because our decision in Brown relied upon statutory interpretation, we apply its rule retroactively.⁶ See Commonwealth v. Paul, 96 Mass. App. Ct. 263, 265-266, 132 N.E.3d 544 (2019). Therefore, the trial judge's jury instruction omitted an essential element required to convict a defendant of violating G. L. c. 269, § 10 (n ) : whether the defendant knew the gun he possessed was loaded. Because the defendant did not object to the instruction, we determine whether the error created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice, which requires us to order a new trial if "we have a serious doubt whether the result of the trial might have been different had the error not been made" (quotations omitted). Commonwealth v. Sherman, 481 Mass. 464, 475-476, 116 N.E.3d 597 (2019).⁷

To assess whether a jury instruction omitting an essential element of a crime created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice, we evaluate the evidence as a whole to determine whether the evidence was "so overwhelming" that "there is no likelihood that the omitted instruction materially influenced the jury's verdict[ ]."⁸ Lutskov, 480 Mass. at 581, 106 N.E.3d 632.⁹ See Commonwealth v. Gabbidon, 398 Mass. 1, 5, 494 N.E.2d 1317 (1986) ("no harm accrues to a defendant if an error does not relate to an issue actively contested at trial"). Cf. Commonwealth v. Gilbert, 447 Mass. 161, 173-174, 849 N.E.2d 1246 (2006) (no substantial risk of miscarriage of justice where evidence required jury to find element omitted from instruction).

Without direct evidence that the defendant knew the gun was loaded, and with almost no discussion of the question at the hearing on the motion to suppress or at trial, we evaluate the circumstantial evidence, see Brown, 479 Mass. at 608, 97 N.E.3d 349, to determine whether the evidence was "so...