Commonwealth v. Berardi

The defendant, a registered sex offender, was indicted for knowingly providing false information on a registration form, in violation of G. L. c. 6, § 178H(a), by failing to disclose that he was employed. He was charged as a subsequent offender and, as a result, faced imprisonment “for not less than five years.” G. L. c. 6, § 178H(c)(2), as appearing in St. 1999, c. 74, § 2. In a bifurcated proceeding, a Superior Court jury convicted him of the underlying registration violation, after which he was convicted of the second and subsequent offense in a jury-waived trial. We consolidated his…