Commonwealth v. Griffith

It was not a good start. Asked to proceed with his opening, the prosecutor1 began: “Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce Paul Griffith, an individual who peddles drugs here in the City of Springfield, commonly referred to as a drug dealer.” That was rather much to say about a defendant charged with a single count of distributing marijuana (G. L. c. 94C, § 32C), as compared with trafficking in marijuana. (G. L. c. 94C, § 32E). We inquire whether an aggregation of excesses by the prosecutor, most not objected to by the defense, deprived the defendant of a fair trial.

Having…