What documents will the court accept when priors are being used for acca enchanment

[sweetblack29]

Hello this is a repost with a few more details. So my man is trying to appeal a few things. The one thing that we are stump on is the type of document that the court will accept when enhancing a prior. He said that the procecutors never used his transcripts for two of his priors so I have a list of questions, if im unclear please excuse me . How does a lawyer prove that a person priors qualifies for an enhancemnt (acca) . Are certified records needed to convict priors as an acca if so what kind. How long can you use a prior in the state of mass. and finally what does it mean when the gov. must formally file a bill of information with the court either prior to the trial or guilty plea, what is the bill and what does it entitle.Thank you for reading and trying to help me with my issue google and ask.com is driving me in circles lol Thanking you in advance

[Colorado_Lawyer]

You asked a bunch of unrelated questions:

First of all, a prior can be used forever, depending on the situation. You will have to be more specific. If you are talking about the habitual offender statute, it depends on the exact wording of the statute.

As far as proving the existence of a prior conviction, what is used are "pen packs" or penitentiary packs which consist of certified copies of the charges, judgment of conviction, fingerprints, a photo, info such as birth date and sometimes the social security number of the defendant. After the Supreme Court issued the Melendez-Diaz opinion in Summer 2008, defense attorneys have been claiming that the "pen packs" are testimonial hearsay and thus inadmissible and insufficient to prove the prior conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. However, this issue is still being litigated, but any good defense attorney should make it and preserve this issue. (Transcripts of the hearings are not necessary in order to prove the fact of the prior convictions, but I think that actual witnesses much come in and identify the defendant and the fingerprints, hence the Melendez-Diaz testimonial hearsay issue.)

Not sure what you mean by the bill of information. Maybe you are referring to the indictment? Sometimes, if the charge is too vague, the defense attorney will file a motion for a "bill of particulars" to force the DA to state with more specificity what the charge is, when it happened, etc., so that the Defendant knows what he is supposed to be defending against.