Commonwealth v. Conaghan

(dissenting, with whom Greaney and Ireland, JJ., join.) The majority opinion holds that a competency examination under G. L. c. 123, § 15 (a), must be performed in order to decide whether the defendant should be allowed to withdraw the guilty plea she entered back in 1992. In my opinion, the ordering of a § 15 (a) examination at this juncture is inappropriate as a matter of law and is, in any event, totally unnecessary to the resolution of the motion to withdraw a guilty plea. The majority opinion has twisted § 15 (a) to solve what it perceives as a possible miscarriage of justice when,…