Commonwealth v. Triplett

The defendant appeals from his conviction of the common law crime of “obstruction of justice.” We transferred the case here on our own motion and now reverse.

1. Facts. The defendant is an attorney and the chief of police of Oxford. Law enforcement officers working as part of a regional drug task force were investigating drug-related activities in the area.1 An informant, Brenda Bonneau,2 implicated the *27defendant in connection with these drug activities. Other information supplied by Bonneau led to an arrest of a Webster police officer, Jose Matías, who sold drugs to an undercover officer…