Commonwealth v. Cancel

The defendant was convicted by a jury of burning a dwelling house, G. L. c. 266, § 1. The Appeals Court sum marily reversed the judgment of conviction based on the improper admission in evidence of a witness’s hearsay statement. Commonwealth v. Cancel, 18 Mass. App. Ct. 1114 (1984). We allowed the Commonwealth’s application for further appellate review.

Citing three errors of law, the defendant argues that his conviction must be reversed. He contends that the first error was made when a witness was allowed to testify, over objection, that “a lot of people told me that you’re responsible for…