Commonwealth v. Jackson (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-059-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us SJC‑11319 COMMONWEALTH vs. KIIYAN JACKSON. Suffolk. December 6, 2012. ‑ April 5, 2013. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Gants, Duffly, & Lenk, JJ. Controlled Substances. Arrest. Constitutional Law, Search and seizure, Arrest, Probable cause. Search and Seizure, Probable cause, Arrest, Search incident to lawful arrest, Fruits of illegal arrest. Evidence, Result of illegal search. Complaint received and sworn to in the Central Division of the Boston Municipal Court Department on September 20, 2010. A pretrial motion to suppress evidence was heard by Robert E. Baylor, J., and a motion for reconsideration was considered by him. An application for leave to prosecute an interlocutory appeal was allowed by Botsford, J., in the Supreme Judicial Court for the county of Suffolk, and the case was reported by her to the Appeals Court. The Supreme Judicial Court on its own initiative transferred the case from the Appeals Court. Ilse Nehring for the defendant. Zachary Hillman, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. DUFFLY, J. After police officers observed the defendant sharing what appeared to be a marijuana cigarette with two others on a park bench, they seized the cigarette and conducted a warrantless search of the defendant’s person and backpack. In the backpack, they discovered a substance resembling marijuana packaged in small plastic bags, with a total weight of less than one ounce. The defendant was arrested and charged with possession of a class D substance (marijuana) with intent to distribute, G. L. c. 94C, § 32C (a), and a corresponding drug violation in or near a school or park, G. L. c. 94C, § 32J. The defendant moved to suppress the evidence obtained from the warrantless search of his person and backpack, contending that the search violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution; arts. 12 and 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights; and G. L. c. 276, § 1. After an evidentiary hearing, a judge in the Boston Municipal Court denied the motion, and also denied the defendant’s motion for reconsideration. A single justice of this court allowed the defendant’s application for leave to file an interlocutory appeal in the Appeals Court, pursuant to Mass. R. Crim. P. 15 (a) (2), as appearing in 422 Mass. 1501 (1996). We transferred the case to this court on our own motion. We conclude that the […]