Commonwealth v. Shangkuan

A District Court judge, pursuant to Mass. R.Crim.P. 34, as amended, 442 Mass. 1501 (2004), has reported the following question: “Can the commonwealth prove that the defendant was served a G. L. c. 209A [order] by the return of service filed by an out of state law enforcement officer without direct testimonial evidence that the defendant was in fact the person served?” The report subsumes two distinct questions: first, does the completed return of service form fall within an exception to the hearsay rule; and second, if so, is it testimonial for purposes of the confrontation clause of the…