Commonwealth v. Madera

The defendant appeals from his convictions by a District Court jury of unlawful possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, G. L. c. 94C, § 32C, and a controlled substance violation in a school zone, G. L. c. 94C, § 32J. He makes the following arguments on appeal. The defendant first argues that the judge erred in admitting drug certificates of analysis without testimony from an analyst. Next, with respect to the admission of expert testimony, he contends both that the testimony improperly exceeded its permissible bounds and that his counsel was ineffective for not objecting to it.…