Commonwealth v. Ellsworth
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The Supreme Judicial Court held that the sentencing judge imposed illegal sentences by entering continuances without a finding and immediately dismissing criminal charges without imposing any terms and conditions or probation, but the Court declined to remand the case for resentencing as to the legal sentences because ordering Defendant to be resentenced would not be just.
Defendant was charged with several offenses in connection with three separate instances. The judge sentenced Defendant to thirty days in a house of correction for the charge of assault and battery and entered continuances without a finding and dismissed all remaining charges. The Commonwealth appealed, arguing that the continuances without a finding, which were immediately dismissed without any terms and conditions, constituted illegal sentences under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278, 18. The Supreme Judicial Court held (1) the continuances without a finding constituted illegal sentences because they contained no terms and conditions; but (2) it would be unfair to Defendant to vacate a disposition reflecting what appeared to be a common practice, and so this ruling applies prospectively from the date of this decision.
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