Commonwealth v. Edwards

This case presents the issue whether and in what circumstances the grand jury testimony of an unavailable witness may be admitted substantively against defendants who, the Commonwealth claims, procured the unavailability of that witness.2 Three defendants are alleged to have colluded with the Commonwealth’s key witness, Jeremy Crockett, to ensure Crockett’s unavailability for trial. In particular, the Commonwealth points to a series of telephone calls made by the defendant Jermaine Edwards to Crockett while Edwards was incarcerated at the Suffolk County house of correction at South Bay, and…