Commonwealth v. Viera

On November 29, 1993, the defendant, Manuel J. Viera, Jr., appeared for arraignment at Dorchester District Court on a charge against him of possessing a class A substance (heroin) with intent to distribute. He pleaded not guilty and made known that his defense would be misidentifi-cation, in detail as follows: the person arrested for the crime on November 27, 1993, was his cousin; the cousin had falsely given his, the defendant’s, name to the police upon arrest, and in that name had signed a recognizance and been released thereon; the defendant had rented the automobile in which the cousin…