Commonwealth v. Melton

A District Court jury convicted the defendant of violation of an abuse prevention order (one count), G. L. c. 209A, § 7, and of threats to commit a crime (two counts), G. L. c. 275, § 2. On appeal he argues that the evidence was insufficient to establish either offense; that the trial judge improperly admitted prejudicial evidence of prior bad acts; and that the judge wrongly excluded the testimony of a police detective and incorrectly denied a missing witness instruction concerning the detective’s absence. For the following reasons, we affirm the convictions.

Background. The evidence…