Associate Judge David A. Wiseman yesterday said Julius Monton was arrested on April 4, 2002 and charged with assault and battery, resisting arrest, obstruction of justice, driving under the influence of alcohol, refusal to submit to a breath test and reckless driving.
Monson pleaded guilty to the charges for obstruction of justice and driving under the influence.
In return, the commonwealth dismissed all the other charges.
Monton was sentenced to one year suspended prison sentence and one year of supervised probation on July 24, 2002.
His supervised probation ended on July 24, 2003.
In Feb. 2007, Monton applied for an order to vacate the two convictions against him to clear his criminal records.
On Feb. 27, 2007, the commonwealth filed a motion to reinstate the convictions against Monton, arguing that “the law does not permit the trial court to set aside any given conviction but only those convictions where sentence is not imposed.”
The trial court reinstated Monton’s obstruction of justice and driving under the influence of alcohol convictions.
Monton appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that “the Commonwealth Criminal Code need not be specifically mentioned in order to apply to his convictions.”
Wiseman said, a defendant can be placed on probation for a fixed period of time based on certain conditions.
“If the defendant complies with all the conditions of the suspended imposition of sentence, the conviction is expunged,” Wiseman said.
The Supreme Court found that the trial court did not err by reinstating Monton’s obstruction of justice and driving under the influence of alcohol convictions.
