Court Opinion

ID: 9743624
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 21:38:52.172448+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:24:50.498490
License: Public Domain

Brown, J.
(concurring). I concur in the result, albeit without enthusiasm. The Commonwealth’s asking the chief *517of police questions about the defendant’s prior criminal record was a blatant attempt to whet the jurors’ appetite with information which could not serve as a basis for an indictment. As the majority point out, the introduction of these records “might have involved serious risk of prejudice.” Notwithstanding the Commonwealth’s unfair and improvident actions, subsequently there was “direct, convincing evidence” presented by Baldinelli which “rendered unimportant the [criminal] records introduced at the first hearing.” But for this additional evidence, I think that this case would stand on a different footing.