Commonwealth v. Alves

The single question before us is whether the proper remedy for a clerical error that results in the issuance of a criminal complaint against a person who not only did not commit the crime, but also was never the intended target of the police investigation, is to seal the record pursuant to G. L. c. 276, § 100C. In the unusual circumstances of this case, we conclude that even though the error was not corrected until the eve of trial when the complaint was dismissed, the statutory remedy of sealing the record was not the only option available to the judge, and that an expungement order is…