Commonwealth v. DeJesus (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-027-15)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 13-P-903 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. EMMANUEL DeJESUS. No. 13-P-903. Middlesex. October 1, 2014. – March 23, 2015. Present: Rapoza, C.J., Katzmann, & Wolohojian, JJ. Evidence, Best and secondary, Hypothetical question. Witness, Police officer. Entrapment. Complaint received and sworn to in the Malden Division of the District Court Department on March 10, 2010. The case was tried before Dominic J. Paratore, J. Merritt Schnipper for the defendant. Erin J. Anderson, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. WOLOHOJIAN, J. Police officers working undercover arranged to purchase “crack” cocaine from a man known as “Paulie,” whom they suspected of operating in tandem with the defendant. A photocopy of the currency to be used for the purchase was made beforehand. The primary issue on appeal is whether the best evidence rule required that the currency, rather than the photocopy, be admitted at trial. Concluding that it does not, we affirm the defendant’s convictions.[1] Background.[2] Officers of the Everett police department were conducting an undercover operation to purchase crack cocaine. The operation was focused on a man known as “Paulie,” whom they suspected of working with the defendant. On March 9, 2010, Sergeant Paul Strong photocopied six twenty-dollar bills and then gave five of them to Detective Robert Hall, who was to arrange the undercover purchase from Paulie. Strong, who was part of the team assigned to surveil the defendant, kept a photocopy of the bills in his pocket.[3] Hall and Paulie arranged to meet near the corner of Broadway and Gladstone Street in Everett. Hall arrived by car at the arranged time and place; Paulie arrived on foot and got into Hall’s car. A purchase was arranged, and Hall gave Paulie five of the bills that had been photocopied. Paulie proceeded to make two telephone calls. After the second call, Paulie left the car and walked up Gladstone Street. Five minutes later, Paulie returned and removed five plastic baggies of crack cocaine from his mouth; he gave four of them to Hall. Paulie was then arrested. Meanwhile, Strong had been watching the defendant’s residence. He observed the defendant drive away from his home, pick up a passenger, meet briefly with a woman who approached his (the defendant’s) car, and then drive to the corner of Gladstone and School Street, where he stopped. This […]