Commonwealth v. Smith

The defendant was convicted by a jury on three complaints for receipt or concealment of stolen automobiles, knowing them to have been stolen. G. L. c. 266, § 28. The case is before us on a bill of exceptions which recites that an exception was taken to the denial of the defendant’s “motion for a directed verdict.” Because it makes no difference to the outcome of the case, we assume (as do both briefs) that the motion was addressed to each of the three complaints.

There was evidence that on June 23, 1972, two police detectives, acting on undisclosed information, went to a gasoline service…