Commonwealth v. Dawson

A judge of the Superior Court reported two questions to the Appeals Court, and we transferred the case here on our own motion. The defendant, a West Springfield police officer, has been indicted on various charges involving the possession of controlled substances and for perjury.

The parties have agreed to the facts underlying the two reported questions. In 1985, Captain Thomas Burke of the West Springfield police department discovered that cocaine seized in a case was missing. A subsequent inventory of the evidence control room at the West Springfield police station showed that approximately…