Sabetti v. DiPaolo

BREYER, Chief Judge.

State policemen found petitioner, Matthew Sabetti, and another person sitting in a parked car that contained drug paraphernalia strewn on the floor and, on the back seat, two small plastic bags of cocaine sticking out of a larger gym bag. It was later determined that the cocaine amounted to 38 grams of a very pure mixture. The Commonwealth charged Sabetti with violating a statute that, at the time, prohibited “knowingly possessing with intent to distribute twenty-eight grams or more of cocaine.” Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. ch. 94C, § 32E(b) (West 1984) (ellipses omitted) (emphasis…