Commonwealth v. Gordon

Gordon was convicted before a jury of six persons in a District Court after an earlier bench trial by a District Court judge. He was charged on separate complaints with (a) operating a motor vehicle negligently so as to endanger the lives and safety of the public, and (b) intentional possession of a class B controlled substance, cocaine. Both complaints arose in the following circumstances, which the jury could have found on the evidence.

On December 2, 1980, two Watertown police officers arrived at the scene of a three-vehicle accident. “The physical evidence indicated that . . . [Gordon’s]…