1:00 General
These Standards describe the legal requirements and recommended practices for responding to applications from law enforcement officers and private persons seeking to initiate criminal proceedings in the District Court.
Commentary
The complaint procedure is a judicial process in which clerks and judges of the District Court serve a grand jury-type function to determine whether a person is to be charged as a defendant in a criminal case.
The Standards are not intended to modify the authority of magistrates as established in the General Laws, most particularly in G.L. c. 218, §§ 32-35A and G.L. c. 276, § 20B and §§ 22- 25.
This is a revision of the Standards originally promulgated in 1975. They have been updated to reflect amendments to the General Laws and the Massachusetts Rules of Criminal Procedure, as well as to encompass recent decisions of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Appeals Court and to reflect various transmittals from the Administrative Office of the District Court discussing aspects of the complaint process.
1:01 Definitions
Application for Complaint: The document used to apply for, and to capture basic information about, a proposed criminal charge.
Clerk: A clerk-magistrate, temporary clerk-magistrate, assistant clerk or temporary assistant clerk.
Complainant: The person who signs the complaint under oath.
Complaint: The formal written charge of crime to which the accused must answer.
Court: A division of the District Court Department. In these Standards the term “court” is used to refer to the court as an administrative unit.
Felony: A felony is a crime which may be punished with a state prison sentence. G.L. c. 274, § 1.
Magistrate: In these Standards, the word “magistrate” means a District Court official authorized by law to authorize criminal complaints and issue process, including a clerk-magistrate, temporary clerk-magistrate, assistant clerk or temporary assistant clerk, whether or not designated as a magistrate pursuant to G.L. c. 221, § 62B. See G.L. c. 218, §§ 32, 33 and 35. Unless the context indicates otherwise, the word “magistrate” also includes a judge who is considering an application for criminal complaint. The word “magistrate” in these Standards does not include an employee who has been designated by the clerk-magistrate as a deputy assistant clerk under G.L. c. 218, § 10A. Deputy assistant clerks may not conduct show cause hearings, find probable cause, authorize a complaint or issue process, but may administer the oath and witness the complainant’s signature to the complaint.
Midemeanor: A misdemeanor is a crime which may not be punished with a state prison sentence. G.L. c. 274, § 1.
Private Complainant: A private complainant is one who is not an assistant attorney general or assistant district attorney, police officer, or other law enforcement officer or official.
Probable Cause: Reasonably trustworthy information sufficient to warrant a prudent person in believing that a crime has been committed and that the accused is the perpetrator.
Process: An arrest warrant or summons. If a magistrate grants an application for a complaint and the accused has not been arrested, the magistrate will order the issuance of either a summons or an arrest warrant.
Commentary
The “complainant” is the person who signs a criminal complaint under oath. “In general, anyone may make a criminal complaint in a District Court who is competent to make oath to it.” Commonwealth v. Haddad, 364 Mass. 795, 798, 308 N.E.2d 899 (1974). For that reason, the complainant must be a natural party, even if acting on behalf of an agency, organization or business entity. A complainant need not have been an eyewitness to the crime or have first-hand knowledge of it. Mass. R. Crim. P. 3(g)(1) and 4(b); Commonwealth v. Dillane, 77 Mass. (11 Gray) 67 (1858); Commonwealth v. Cote, 15 Mass. App. Ct. 229, 236-237, 444 N.E.2d 1282, 1288 (1983). A complaint, like a grand jury indictment, may be based entirely on hearsay. Mass. R. Crim. P. 4(c); Commonwealth v. Kater, 432 Mass. 404, 412, 734 N.E.2d 1164 (2000). This applies to police complainants as well as private complainants.
In many courts a single police prosecutor presents applications for complaint for all offenses prosecuted by that police department. In such cases, the designated officer has only information from other officers and no first-hand knowledge. This is a sound and appropriate administrative practice which should be encouraged. Massachusetts R. Crim. P. 4(b):
“authorizes the signing of the complaint by persons other than the arresting officer in order to avoid requiring the officer’s presence at any time prior to the probable cause hearing or trial. [Rule 4(b)] is grounded in the desire to avoid removing an officer from his regular work shift to execute the mere formality of personally signing the complaint.”
Reporter’s Notes to Mass. R. Crim. P. 4 (1979).
Note on terminology
In older statutes the term complaint often refers to what we would today call an application for complaint. Under that traditional nomenclature, complaints were “received” by a court, and process (a summons or a warrant) then “issued” on a complaint where appropriate. See, e.g., G.L. c. 218, §§ 35-37; c. 276, §§ 21-22; Mass. R. Crim. P. 4(b). However, usage was never entirely consistent. “The word ‘complaint,’ as used in the statutes of this Commonwealth in reference to criminal offences, sometimes means the formal written charge of crime to which the accused person is to answer, and sometimes it means the oral charge which may be made to a proper magistrate or court, and which is to be reduced to writing by the magistrate or court.” Hobbs v. Hill, 157 Mass. 556, 557, 32 N.E. 862, 862 (1893).
These Standards follow the modern tendency (reflected in some more recent statutes) to speak of an application for complaint being “received” or “filed,” after which a judicial officer may “authorize” or “issue” a complaint and, if needed, also issue process on the complaint. See, e.g., G.L. c. 218, § 35; Mass. R. Crim. P. 3(g); McAvoy v. Shufrin, 401 Mass. 593, 598 n.5, 518 N.E.2d 513, 517 n.5 (1988).