Commonwealth v. Harding

Charged with various offenses 1 arising out of three break-ins in Plymouth, as well as with carrying a firearm without a license, the defendant was acquitted, or verdicts were directed in his favor, on all charges other than the firearms violation. He appeals from his conviction of that offense on the ground that the gun in question, a .22 caliber handgun found by the police in his automobile, was illegally seized in a warrantless search incident to an unlawful arrest. Relying on the Aguilar-Spinelli test, see note 6, infra, he claims that the police, acting on insubstantial hearsay, lacked…