Commonwealth v. Ioannides

At his trial on two indictments charging receipt of stolen property worth *905more than $250 (gold smuggled from a metal refineiy), Ioannides proposed to testify in his defense and filed a motion in limine to exclude evidence of a prior conviction of distributing a class B substance. The trial judge considered the motion at an unrecorded lobby conference, a practice that handicaps our review. From the judge’s on-record explanation of his ruling toward the end of the trial and from the briefs of the parties, we can piece together what occurred. Defense counsel urged that the judge exercise his…