Commonwealth v. Smith

After a jury-waived Superior Court trial, the defendant, Henry Levon Smith, was found guilty of trafficking in cocaine (indictment no. 48068), distribution of marijuana (no. 48069), possession of marijuana with intent to distribute (no. 48070), and assault (no. 48072). The case comes before us as a result of Smith’s unsuccessful pretrial challenge, under Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154 (1978), to the validity of a search warrant for his home. Although he agrees that the motion judge (who also sat as trial judge) properly excised a factual misrepresentation from the search warrant affidavit,1…