Commonwealth v. Peters

Billings, A.J.

The defendant was indicted for possession of heroin with intent to distribute (001) and possession of marijuana (002). Appended to no. 001 is a third indictment charging him, under G.L.c. 279, §25, with being an habitual criminal. It is this last that he seeks to dismiss, on the ground that the grand jury was not presented with probable cause to believe that he was “twice convicted of crime and sentenced and committed to prison . . . for terms of not less than three years each,” as the statute requires.

For the reasons that follow, the motion to dismiss so much of the indictments…