JUNE 9, 2014
On May 19, 2014, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC), in Commonwealth v. Sepheus, reversed the conviction of a defendant convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute, and determined the defendant is entitled to a new trial, because trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to a portion of the Commonwealth’s expert’s testimony. The portion of the expert’s testimony to which counsel did not object was the expert’s response to questions counsel asked that allowed the expert to offer his own opinion as to the defendant’s guilt.
The defendant was arrested on outstanding warrants in Springfield, MA on September 30, 2009. At the time of the arrest, the defendant was with another man, whom Springfield police observed perform what they believed to be a narcotics transaction. Both the defendant and the other man were arrested. Defendant was found in possession of three small bags of “crack” cocaine, weighing approximately 0.4 grams and packaged individually in the twisted-off corner of a sandwich bag, and $312 in currency. The defendant did not have in his possession a device to ingest the drug.
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Posted In: Drug Offense , Expert Testimony , Ineffective Assistance of Counsel