Commonwealth v. LaBella

The defendant was charged with five violations of the gaming laws. A jury in the Superior Court convicted him of two of the five charges: illegally setting up or promoting a lottery, on January 7, 1982, in violation of G. L. c. 271, § 7, and on the same date, keeping a building containing apparatus, books and devices for registering bets in violation of G. L. c. 271, § 17. On appeal, the defendant argues that the judge erred in (1) denying his motion for a required finding of not guilty on both charges on the basis of insufficiency of the evidence, (2) allowing a State police officer to give…