Commonwealth v. Tate

When the defendant Roy L. Tate, Jr., was released from State prison on probation, 1 it was a condition of his probation that he have no contact of any kind with Joyce Harris or any member of her family. Tate had been serving concurrent sentences for, among other offenses, the aggravated rape of Harris and, on the same occasion, perpetrating upon her an assault and battery with intent to kill (he had stabbed her in the chest, puncturing one of her lungs). For violation of the “absolutely no contact” condition, a judge of the Superior Court ordered the revocation of Tate’s probation. From that…