Commonwealth v. McVicker

After the defendant was found guilty of larceny by a judge of the Boston Municipal Court, he appealed to the jury-of-six session of that court. When he failed to appear for a hearing on his various pretrial motions, including a motion to suppress, he was defaulted, and sentence was thereafter imposed pursuant to G. L. c. 278, § 24, as amended by St. 1978, c. 478, § 305. We conclude that the defendant’s default was not “solid,” Commonwealth v. Coughlin, 372 Mass. 818, 821 (1977), and reverse.

I. The Facts.

September 17, 1984, was the first scheduled date at the jury-of-six session for hearing on…