Commonwealth v. Couture

The Commonwealth appeals from a judge’s allowance of the defendant’s motion to suppress a handgun which was uncovered during a warrantless search of the defendant’s motor vehicle. A single justice of this court allowed the Commonwealth’s application for interlocutory review and *179reported the case to the full court. We affirm the ruling of the motion judge.

The facts of the case, as found by the motion judge, are these. On February 11, 1988, a clerk at a convenience store in Lowell telephoned the local police and informed them that a man inside the store had a small handgun protruding from his…