DRUG CONVICTION REVERSED
Today the Appeals Court reversed a drug conviction in the case of Commonwealth v. Podgurski, No. 10-P-2135.
The Court found that the defendant should have been able to present the defense of entrapment to the jury. “Entrapment by law enforcement involves “implanting criminal ideas in innocent minds and thereby bringing about offenses that otherwise would never have been perpetrated.” Commonwealth v. Shuman, 391 Mass. 345, 351 (1984), quoting Perkins, Criminal Law 1031 (2d ed.1969). “There are two elements of the entrapment defense: (1) that the defendant was induced by a government agent or one acting at his direction and (2) that the defendant lacked predisposition to engage in the criminal conduct of which he is accused.” Commonwealth v. Madigan, 449 Mass. 702, 707 (2007), quoting from Commonwealth v. Penta, 32 Mass.App.Ct. 36, 47 (1992). “
The Court also found that the manner in which the drugs were weighed was improper. “Where a measuring device is at issue, the courts in Massachusetts have required the party proffering a measurement at trial to present sufficient evidence to satisfy a threshold showing that the device is accurate.”
As an attorney who has tried drug cases from possession with intent to distribute to trafficking in controlled substances, I know that every defense must be zealously presented and no stone left unturned to obtain justice for my clients.
