Pages

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Deidre Forknall v. Commonwealth



Facts: The petitioner, Forknall, filed her petition in the county court after a judge in the District Court denied her motion to dismiss a complaint charging her with leaving the scene of property damage and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license. The single justice denied the petition.

Issue: Whether this case presents the type of exceptional circumstances that warrant the exercise of this court's extraordinary power of general superintendence.

No. The petitioner’s argument was a claim that review of any adverse decision in the trial court cannot adequately be obtained on appeal because she “has various diagnosed mental disorders [that would leave her] completely emotionally drained [and unable to] be rational throughout ordinary appellate proceedings....”, but since she did not raise this claim before the single justice, the court did not need to consider it. (CH)