Three of the cases involve alleged sex crimes in Springfield and Northampton.
NORTHAMPTON – Two cases involving alleged sex crimes in Hampshire County are among six that the state Appeals Court is scheduled to hear arguments in when it comes to town Thursday.
Appeals Court Judges Janis M. Berry, Frederick L. Brown and Joseph A. Trainor will preside over the session, which begins at 9:30 a.m. in Hampshire Superior Court.
One case involves Paul Robillard, convicted by a Hampshire Superior Court jury in 2008 on six counts of incest.
Robillard, 62, was sentenced to 10 to 12 years in state prison.
The alleged assaults took place in Granby in 1986 and 1987, but the victim didn’t come forward until 2007, according to prosecutors.
The statute of limitations for prosecuting such a case normally would be 10 years, but can be extended if the suspect lives outside Massachusetts.
The basis of the appeal is that the prosecution did not present sufficient evidence about where Robillard lived.
Another Hampshire county case is Kevin Sullivan, who is serving an indefinite sentence at the Massachusetts Treatment Center in Bridgewater, after being found to be a sexually dangerous person.
Sullivan has convictions for indecent assault and battery and for lewdness and disseminating matter harmful to minors after incidents in which he sunbathed naked and offered pornographic magazines to children at a park in Ware, according to court files.
Hampshire Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Ford ruled in 2003 that Sullivan was sexually dangerous, meaning he could be held beyond his sentence for any period up to life. Sullivan petitioned unsuccessfully for his release. The appeal questions the constitutionality of his commitment.
Judges and staff usually make about six trips a year in an effort to sit in various parts of the state.
In a case from Springfield District Court, a former Springfield school teacher is seeking to have his conviction overturned.
James R. Houlihan, 44, a longtime school teacher, was convicted in September of 2007 of indecently assaulting a child, and sentenced to two years in the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow.
After he was found guilty of the one offense by a jury, the Springfield School Department fired Houlihan.
He was found guilty of one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 14, involving a female student.
In another appeal from a Springfield District Court case, Samuel Carabello is appealing his conviction for carrying a dangerous weapon and possession of cocaine. And Cornell Robbins is appealing his Hampden Superior Court conviction for possession of a firearm without a firearms identification card.