Court Opinion

ID: 9524605
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:54:57.279206+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:11:09.282932
License: Public Domain

Brown, J.
(concurring). Unlike some who think that overreaching and various other transgressions by the Commonwealth occur most often in close cases, I still cling to the notion that thoughtlessness rather than contrived unfairness precipitate the vast majority of the alleged errors presented on appeal. Here we see the Commonwealth in its third effort to convict this defendant. One would have thought it would have avoided steering straight for the iceberg. See Commonwealth v. Kozec, 21 Mass. App. Ct. 355, 366 (1985) (Brown, J., concurring), further appellate review granted, 397 Mass. 1101 (1986).1
I accept the majority’s justification, on the facts of this particular case, for the comment about the defendant’s controlled demeanor, but I wish to highlight what the majority touches on too gently, namely, the “Catch-22” quality of the prosecutor’s comment that “[h]e’s very in control.” The defendant would be adversely affected if he were not calm and under control. What was this defendant, or any defendant, supposed to do in such a situation?
*458Finally, in passing, I note that the admission of the prejudicial extrajudicial statement of Anthony Grant was at the margin and needlessly daring. The Commonwealth did not need this potentially explosive piece of evidence and the judge’s handling of it was questionable. Judges and prosecutors, alike, are responsible for ensuring the fairness of criminal trials. '

 Regrettably, it must be said again that if prosecutors cannot get it right or at least strive to make it right, see Commonwealth v. Paiva, 16 Mass. App. Ct. 561, 563 (1983), they should turn in their tickets. See Commonwealth v. Kozec, 21 Mass. App. Ct. at 367 n.2 (Brown, J., concurring).