High Court Rules MA Has To Pay For Out-Of-State Probation

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — Massachusetts will have to reimburse a former North Andover resident fees she paid to have her probation supervised by New Hampshire officials following her conviction on a charge of wantonly or recklessly permitting another to commit an assault and battery on a child causing bodily injury. Heather Dragotta, 39, was charged in 2013 and accused of allowing her live-in boyfriend abuse her then five-month-old daughter when she was living in North Andover. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court overturned that conviction in 2017.

In an SJC ruling issued Friday, the high court ruled that Massachusetts should reimburse $837 in "monthly probation fees" Dragotta paid to have her probation supervised in New Hampshire, where she moved after serving two months of a two-year sentence. Massachusetts had argued it was not obligated to repay the fees after her sentence was overturned because they had been paid directly to the New Hampshire Department of Corrections. The court also shot down an argument by the state that the fees were akin to restitution payments.

"Restitution is paid to the victim of a crime, and constitutes 'money or services which a court orders a defendant to pay or render to a victim as part of the disposition'," the court said. "Probation service fees, on the other hand, are paid monthly to compensate for government expenses."