A. Commonwealth v. Fernando Perez, SJC-12251 – The case presents the following issue: Whether a juvenile convicted of non-homicide offenses and sentenced to 27.5-34 years in prison is entitled to be resentenced to a term that entitles him to a parole hearing sooner than a juvenile convicted of first-degree murder.
B. Commonwealth v. Moses Ehiabhi, SJC-12259 – The Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has issued the following amicus solicitation:
“Does G. L. c. 94C, § 32A, vest improper discretion in the prosecutor to determine what subsection an individual will be charged under [i.e., G. L. c. 94C, § 32A (b) or § 32A (d),] particularly in light of the statement made to [the trial judge] that generally, prosecutors charge individuals under the more stringent subsections of the statute without further explanation or justification; and/or is the statute ambiguous in imposing contradictory mandatory minimum sentences on the same subsequent offense, requiring application of the rule of lenity.” (Reported issue).