Commonwealth v. Vasquez

The court has determined that the defendant should not be held to a lesser standard of review because of a failure to object to the admission of the certificates of drug analysis (drug certificates), where the circumstances relegated the act of objecting to an exercise in futility, and for reasons of fundamental fairness. I do not agree.

I agree that the trial judge was required to apply the law as stated in Commonwealth v. Verde, 444 Mass. 279 (2005). Ante at 356-357. However, that is not determinative of the question presented here. There is nothing unusual about requiring a litigant to…