Opinion ID: 2356128
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Testimony of Dennis Medeiros

Text: Mr. Medeiros also testified at the trial. In his testimony, he explained the particulars of the drug operation that he had orchestrated from his basement. Mr. Medeiros would purchase large quantities of marijuana and would then divide the marijuana into smaller bags to sell at a profit, with prices for each small bag ranging from $10 to $100. Mr. Medeiros testified that in 2001 defendant had visited him while he was dividing the marijuana into bags and that defendant had witnessed him lighting a joint. According to Mr. Medeiros, he and defendant had agreed that defendant would look the other way with respect to the drug operation that Mr. Medeiros was running. Mr. Medeiros also testified that he had smoked marijuana with defendant on numerous occasions since high school and that he had given or sold marijuana to defendant a number of times between 1999 and 2001, sometimes on a weekly basis. During the trial, a recording of phone calls between Mr. Medeiros and defendant was played, and Mr. Medeiros interpreted for the jury various code words for drugs that defendant had used during those phone calls. Mr. Medeiros described in his testimony various forms of assistance that defendant had given him so that he might evade police detection of his drug business. He stated that defendant had checked the license plates of suspicious cars in his neighborhood. According to Mr. Medeiros, defendant had explained to him that undercover police officers often use cars with fake plates. A license plate check indicating that a car was not registered to the plate that it bore could, according to Mr. Medeiros's testimony about what defendant had explained to him, indicate that an undercover police officer was using that car. Mr. Medeiros also stated that defendant had checked the serial number of his rifle to determine whether or not it was stolen. It was further Mr. Medeiros's testimony that defendant warned him in advance about possible police raids; he stated that defendant would not give specific information about forthcoming raids, but would encourage him to slow down his drug dealing at certain points in time. After receiving such a warning from defendant, Mr. Medeiros would then hide his drugs and inform his friends about a possible raid. He testified about a specific occasion in January of 2002 when defendant allegedly told him that he should lay low because of an impending raid and warned Mr. Medeiros that his cell phone might be tapped. Mr. Medeiros testified that defendant did not tell him specifically that he was the target of an investigation, but did tell him to chill out for a while and to be cautious. According to Mr. Medeiros, defendant had heard Mr. Medeiros's name being mentioned at the East Providence police station.