Commonwealth v. Brown

James E. Brown was convicted by a jury on July 24, 1981, on three indictments charging armed robbery and on so much of a fourth indictment as charged unarmed robbery. He appealed to the Appeals Court, which affirmed the judgments. Commonwealth v. Brown, 14 Mass. App. Ct. 995 (1982). We granted the defendant’s application for further appellate review, and we now reverse.

There was evidence of the following facts. On October 20, 1979, at about 3:30 a.m., two Boston police officers observed a yellow station wagon automobile, driven by Brown, exit a one-way street the wrong way. The station wagon…