Commonwealth v. Torres

While searching the inside of an automobile after a routine traffic stop, State Trooper Peter Cummings found twenty baggies of cocaine which, on analysis, weighed 130.06 grams and was 81 per cent pure. A passenger, the defendant Ruben Dario Torres, was convicted by a jury of trafficking in more than one hundred grams of cocaine (G. L. c. 94C, § 32E[¿][3]).1 The principal issue presented is whether the trooper conducted an illegal search when he dipped into a *7plastic shopping bag in the automobile passenger area compartment. The defendant also claims that the evidence presented at trial was…