Commonwealth v. A.Z.

Summary

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that the defendant's appeal was not moot, that G.L. c. 123 §15(b) does not require a finding of serious‑harm risk, and that due‑process requires a judge to make a clear‑and‑convincing finding that hospitalization is the least restrictive means before involuntarily committing a pre‑trial defendant for competency evaluation. Accordingly, the commitment order was vacated and the case remanded.