Mazer v. State

Robert M. Mazer was found guilty, in a trial by the court without a jury, on an indictment in four counts, the first of which charged unlawful possession on January 11, 1956, of cannabis, a narcotic drug popularly known as marihuana. After a motion for a new trial had been overruled by the Supreme Bench, he was sentenced to five years in the House of Correction. His appeal, among other points, challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to convict and the admissibility of certain evidence.

Mazer was arrested on the night of January 11, 1956, when he kept an appointment on Franklin Street with a…