Commonwealth v. Golding

The defendant entered unagreed guilty pleas to five drug charges. After learning of assistant lab analyst Annie Dookhan's misconduct,2 he filed a motion for new trial seeking to withdraw the guilty pleas. A judge of the Superior Court denied the motion. We reverse.

Facts. We recite the relevant facts as found below.3 Around January 29, 2009, officers at the Billerica police department received information from two confidential informants that the informants had purchased drugs, including OxyContin, from the defendant. One informant also told the officers that the defendant sourced his…