Commonwealth v. Dew

During the early morning hours of January 30, 1999, in the vestibule of a rooming house in the Roxbury section of Boston, Ovid McIver was shot and killed when his attempt to purchase crack cocaine from a drug dealer known as “James” turned into a fatal robbery. On January 25, 2002, after a ten-day trial, a jury convicted Roger L. Dew, Jr., a man whom witnesses identified as “James,” of felony-murder in the first degree, armed robbery, and the illegal possession of a firearm.1

On appeal, Dew claims that he is entitled to a new trial because (1) his motion to suppress evidence found in the…