Commonwealth v. Crapps (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-130-13)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 11‑P‑1753 Appeals Court COMMONWEALTH vs. JIMMY LEE CRAPPS, JR. No. 11‑P‑1753. Hampden. March 4, 2013. ‑ October 24, 2013. Present: Berry, Sikora, & Milkey, JJ. Controlled Substances. Evidence, Constructive possession, Expert opinion, Scientific test. Practice, Criminal, Findings by judge. Indictment found and returned in the Superior Court Department on August 11, 2009. The case was heard by Peter A. Velis, J. Amanda Lovell for the defendant. Deborah D. Ahlstrom, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. SIKORA, J. At the conclusion of a jury-waived trial, a Superior Court judge convicted the defendant of trafficking in twenty-eight to one hundred grams of “crack” cocaine, G. L. c. 94C, § 32E(b)(2).[1] On appeal, the defendant presents two challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence. He contends that the Commonwealth failed to prove (1) that he constructively possessed the drugs found in the center console of the automobile which he was driving; and (2) that the weight of the crack cocaine exceeded twenty-eight grams because the Commonwealth’s chemist improperly extrapolated the net aggregate weight of the crack cocaine from a sampling of the packets found in the console. For the following reasons, we affirm. Background. The evidence permitted the judge to find the following facts. In July, 2009, Springfield police were conducting surveillance of the defendant. On one occasion, they observed him driving a white Lexus sport utility vehicle (SUV). The registration of the SUV identified the owner as Matrisa Collins, the defendant’s girlfriend, with whom he shared an address. On July 23, 2009, the police observed the defendant driving the SUV with no passengers. He drove to a store parking lot, where a female entered the passenger’s side of the SUV. The SUV traveled a very short distance and then stopped. The woman got out and walked away. These observations prompted the police to stop and to search the SUV and, later, the defendant. The officers recovered (1) a white tube sock in the center console containing (a) a plastic bag of thirty-six individual packets of apparent crack cocaine; and (b) a plastic bag containing a larger chunk of apparent crack cocaine; (2) sixty-six dollars in cash; (3) on the front passenger’s side seat, the defendant’s personal papers; (4) from the driver’s side door pocket, a cellular telephone; and (5) from the defendant’s pants pocket, […]