Commonwealth v. Marcus

By the time the defendant was apprehended for selling heroin, his addiction to that drug cost him, according to his own testimony, $400 to $600 per day. The particular sales of which he stands convicted under G. L. c. 94C, § 32, as appearing in St. 1980, c. 436, § 4, were made to a State trooper on January 16 and 30, 1981, and on February 3, 1981. Those sales were for $80, $50, and $250 respectively. The defendant, who was found guilty after a bench trial, does not contest his guilt. What he contends is that the mandatory imprisonment of five years (the conviction was not the defendant’s…