Commonwealth v. Mendes

With due respect, I dissent from that part of the majority opinion which holds that the admission of the drug certificates was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. I also depart from the majority in the suggestion that it is not the whole trial record — Commonwealth case-in-chief and defense case — which is to be considered in determining the question whether an error, here the admission of the certificates, was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.1

*485Consideration of the entire trial record of prosecution and defense evidence. Under Commonwealth v. Vasquez, 456 Mass. 350 (2010), the standard…