Opinion ID: 200697
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Offense and Some Pretrial History

Text: 5 At about 8 p.m. on October 30, 1994, two police officers for the city of Lynn received a radio report of a disturbance at 102 Cottage Street. Upon arrival, the residents of the first floor apartment let the officers into the three-unit building and directed them upstairs. The officers proceeded to the second floor, which was empty and unlit, where they heard footsteps coming from the third floor. Officer Griffin proceeded to the third floor apartment and knocked on the door, identifying himself as policia. Officer Hogan went up the back stairs to the third floor, where he heard the back door unlock and saw Castillo begin to emerge from the doorway. Castillo then turned and went back into the apartment. Officer Hogan entered through the back door, saw a second man in the apartment's bathroom holding a plastic bag containing a white substance, and heard the toilet flushing. The officer then saw a third man in the kitchen making a throwing gesture towards the window. On the ground beneath the kitchen window, the police later recovered two clear plastic bags containing approximately 169 grams of cocaine. Castillo and a fourth man were standing next to the kitchen table, on which Officer Hogan observed a partially open brown paper bag containing several plastic sandwich bags filled with a white powder, and two digital scales. Castillo was never seen in physical custody of any controlled substance. The officers arrested Castillo and brought him to the police station, where officers found a beeper and $467 in cash on his person. 6 On December 14, 1994, a Massachusetts grand jury indicted Castillo for trafficking in 200 grams or more of cocaine, and conspiracy to violate the Controlled Substances Act. Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 94c, §§ 32E, 40 (2003). At Castillo's arraignment on January 11, 1995, attorney Kirk Bransfield was appointed to represent him. After deciding a variety of pretrial motions and after a number of continuances, the trial court scheduled the beginning of trial for December 13, 1995. 3 Castillo failed to appear on December 13, and an arrest warrant issued. Approximately six months later, Castillo was arrested at a New York airport and remanded to Massachusetts for trial. Trial was scheduled to begin on September 23, 1996.