Commonwealth v. Rivera

The Commonwealth appeals from a District Court order suppressing the fruits of a search of the defendant, Carlos M. Rivera. Although this is a close case, we agree that the police lacked probable cause to search the defendant at the time of the search. Accordingly, we affirm.

1. Standard of review. We adopt the subsidiary findings of fact of the motion judge, which we accept absent clear error, reserving for independent review her ultimate findings and her conclusions of law. See Commonwealth v. Anderson, 461 Mass. 616, 619 (2012) ; Commonwealth v. Charley, 91 Mass. App. Ct. 223, 224 (2017).

2.…