Commonwealth v. Clemens

In December of 2008, the defendant admitted to sufficient facts on a charge of being an unlicensed private investigator, in violation of G. L. c. 147, § 23, and received a continuation without a finding (CWOF). Several months later, acting through counsel, the defendant moved to withdraw his admission2 pursuant to Mass.R.Crim.P. 30(b), as appearing in 435 Mass. 1501 (2001), arguing that there was an inadequate factual basis to support the charge. No action was taken on the motion until January of 2012,3 when a District Court judge denied it in a margin order. According to the defendant, he…