Commonwealth v. John Figueiredo.

── Commonwealth v. John Figueiredo. ── Court: Massachusetts Appeals Court Date: May 12, 2026 Category: General NOTICE: Summary decisions issued by the Appeals Court pursuant to M.A.C. Rule 23.0, as appearing in 97 Mass. App. Ct. 1017 (2020) (formerly known as rule 1:28, as amended by 73 Mass. App. Ct. 1001 [2009]), are primarily directed to the parties and, therefore, may not fully address the facts of the case or the panel's decisional rationale. Moreover, such decisions are not circulated to the entire court and, therefore, represent only the views of the panel that decided the case. A summary decision pursuant to rule 23.0 or rule 1:28 issued after February 25, 2008, may be cited for its persuasive value but, because of the limitations noted above, not as binding precedent. See Chace v. Curran, 71 Mass. App. Ct. 258, 260 n.4 (2008). COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS APPEALS COURT 25-P-1030 COMMONWEALTH vs. JOHN FIGUEIREDO.1 MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PURSUANT TO RULE 23.0 Following a jury trial in the District Court, the defendant, John Figueiredo, was convicted of indecent assault and battery on a child under the age of fourteen, and open and gross lewdness. On appeal, the defendant contends that the judge erred by (1) mishandling first complaint evidence, (2) admitting prior bad acts evidence, and (3) providing a "tender years" instruction. We affirm. Background. The victim was twenty-four years old at the time of trial. The defendant and the victim's mother (mother) began dating in 2004, and the three of them "moved in together 1As is our custom, we use the version of the defendant's name as it appears in the complaint. in the winter" of that year. The victim described various incidents of abuse that occurred between 2005, when she was five years old, and 2012, when she was twelve. Specifically, in January or February 2005, the defendant "c[a]me up from behind" the victim while she was "standing in front of the fridge," and "grabbed [her] right butt cheek with his hand open handed." The victim asked him to stop, but the defendant said, "he did not have to because he was an adult." In 2006, the defendant entered the six year old victim's room while he "was naked from the waist down." His penis was erect, and he told her to "lay down on the bed, face down," got on the bed himself, held her down, and "used his penis and rubbed it against [her] back and buttock." The victim was "extremely afraid" and felt that she did not have any way to defend herself. The defendant told the victim that if she "told [the] mother then he would harm or kill [the victim] and leave [her] body where [her] mother could find it." The victim was scared and "did not want to tell [her] mother and risk [her] safety." In or around 2008, while the mother was away, the defendant called out to the victim. She went downstairs to the basement and saw the defendant with "his pants around his ankles, and he was masturbating to child pornography on the television." While 2 he was masturbating, the defendant asked the victim "to come and sit on his lap on the couch." He directed the victim to "stand still" and "then proceeded to lift [her] shirt up and began groping [her] right breast and instructed [her] to stay still and watch the TV." The defendant again told the victim not to tell the mother and threatened to harm and strangle the victim if she disclosed the incident. In 2011, when the victim was eleven, the defendant entered her room while she was working on a school project. He sat on her bed, undid his zipper, exposed his erect penis, and masturbated in front of her while telling her "how hot [she] was" and telling her that he "wished that [she] was [her] mom so that h