Commonwealth v. Harrington

The case comes before us on a report by a judge of the District Court, entered before trial and ostensibly under Mass.R.Crim.P. 34, as amended, 442 Mass. 1501 (2004).1 The report does not frame a question of law; instead, it expresses the judge’s view that the decision of the Supreme Judicial Court in Alegata v. Commonwealth, 353 Mass. 287 (1967), “violated the separation of powers among the three branches of government” by its use of § 250.2 of the Model Penal Code (Proposed *15Official Draft) to interpret the provisions of G. L. c. 272, § 53. Based on that conclusion, the judge “solicits the…