Commonwealth v. Davis

The defendant was convicted by a Superior Court jury of distribution of cocaine. G. L. c. 94C, § 32A. We conclude that the erroneous answer supplied by the trial judge to a jury question created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice. We reverse the defendant’s conviction.

*76The defendant was convicted largely, if not solely, on the testimony of one Francis Thornton. Some time before the events that gave rise to the defendant’s arrest, Thornton himself had been arrested for distribution of marijuana. In exchange for nonspecific “consideration” from the district attorney’s office,…