Clifford v. Commonwealth

With much dismay, I must dissent. The majority opinion is not only fundamentally flawed on several levels, but is also tremendously disheartening. The opinion condones the admission of Officer Smith’s testimony that the voice of the fourth speaker he heard on the tape “sounded as if it was of a male black.” This testimony not only impermissibly bolstered the testi*378mony of Detective Birkenhauer, whose version of events inculpating Appellant had been called into serious question by the testimony of the Commonwealth’s own informant, but also was incredibly prejudicial to Appellant, the sole black…