Commonwealth v. Ramsey

A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant of *725unlawful possession of a firearm (G. L. c. 269, § 10[a]) and unlawful possession of cocaine. After the jury returned their verdicts, the defendant pleaded guilty to the enhanced sentence portion of the firearm indictment. See G. L. c. 269, § 10G(a). The sole issue on appeal is whether a new trial is required as a result of the erroneous admission in evidence of a ballistics certificate and certificates of analysis for the cocaine, each of which came in without testimony of the certifying official. See Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts, 129 S. Ct.…