Commonwealth v. Johnson

(dissenting, with whom Lynch, J., joins). For approximately twenty years this court has left open the question whether to follow the Brathwaite reliability test. See Manson v. Brathwaite, 432 U.S. 98 (1977); Commonwealth v. Venios, 378 Mass. 24, 27 (1979). At long last, the court has reached the question, only to reject the reliability test, in favor of the per se rule of exclusion. Massachusetts, today, becomes one of only two States to adopt this rule.1 Virtually every other State which has considered the issue has adopted *473the reliability test.2 We should join the overwhelming majority of…