(Applicable to District Court and Superior Court)
Mass. R. Crim. P. 18
Reporter's Notes--2022
This amendment makes two changes to bring the rule into conformity with current law and practice. First, it removes gendered pronouns and references in Rule 18(a)(1) and (2) and clarifies that a defendant's presence is required for imposition of any sentence or the imposition of probation. Rule 18(a)(1) allows a trial to proceed to its conclusion after a defendant is absent without cause or leave of the court but requires the defendant's presence for imposition of sentence. A defendant has a right to be present at sentencing. Commonwealth v. Pacheco, 477 Mass. 206, 215 (2017) (citing Commonwealth v. Williamson, 462 Mass. 676, 685 (2012)). This amendment clarifies that the defendant's presence is also required for imposition of probation. The amendment uses "sentence" rather than "disposition" because the defendant's presence would not be required for a dismissal.
Second, in Rule 18(a)(3) the amendment implements the terminological change from "sentence" to "disposition" required by Commonwealth v. Beverly, 485 Mass. 1 (2020), to reflect more accurately that potential dispositional outcomes in criminal cases subject to a Rule 29 motion to revise and revoke may include continuances without a finding. Id., 485 Mass. at 10 ("a continuance without a finding disposition may fairly be considered a sentence for the purposes of Rule 29").