Commonwealth v. Perl

The defendant, a physician, was convicted by a Superior Court jury of multiple counts of unlawful distribution of a class B substance.1 On appeal, he claims that the judge *446committed reversible error by instructing the jury that the duress defense requires that the threatened harm be “imminent,” and by refusing to permit him and his wife to testify concerning their private conversations. We affirm.

Background. The Commonwealth presented evidence that the defendant unlawfully sold Percocet pills from his office in Brockton to an undercover State trooper on October 18, 1994, October 20, 1994, and…