Commonwealth v. Berrio

The defendant was convicted by a Superior Court jury of so much of an indictment for trafficking in cocaine in an amount more than two hundred grams, G. L. c. 94C, § 32E, as charged possession of cocaine with the intent to distribute, G. L. c. 94C, § 32A. On appeal, he alleges that (1) the trial judge’s *837instruction relating to prima facie evidence impermissibly shifted the burden of persuasion, (2) the prosecutor improperly vouched for the credibility of the Commonwealth’s police witnesses, and (3) the testimony of a police witness created the risk that the jury’s verdict was influenced by…