Brown v. Commonwealth

Opinion

BARROW, J.

This criminal appeal is from a judgment of conviction for distributing cocaine and for doing so within 1000 feet of a school. We hold that evidence that the defendant was seen exchanging something with an unidentified man approximately twenty minutes before the alleged sale with which he was charged was inadmissible because it served no purpose except to show the defendant’s propensity to commit a crime. For this reason, we reverse.

A detective conducting surveillance observed the defendant and an unidentified man approach the rear of a van parked near a restaurant across the…