Commonwealth v. Rabb

6 Mass. L. Rptr. 427
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedFebruary 21, 1997
DocketNo. 95375
StatusPublished

This text of 6 Mass. L. Rptr. 427 (Commonwealth v. Rabb) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Rabb, 6 Mass. L. Rptr. 427 (Mass. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

Brady, J.

The defendant moves, pursuant to Mass.R.Crim.P. 25(b)(2), to set aside the September 16, 1996 jury verdict of guilty of trafficking in cocaine (over 100 grams but less than 200 grams) and for an order of a not guilty verdict. The defendant contends that by reason of his conviction after a guilty plea of possession with intent to distribute cocaine in the Plymouth District Court prior to trial in this case, the prosecution of the instant trafficking indictment violates the double jeopardy clause of the United States Constitution. For the reasons discussed below, I allowed the defendant’s motion to set aside the jury verdict on February 12, 1997.

BACKGROUND

The basic facts are these. On February 1, 1994, the police obtained a search warrant for an apartment rented to one Heidi Smith at 31 Seaview Street, Plymouth, and for a motel room rented to defendant Gregory A. Rabb at the Bayview Motel at 20 Main Street, Kingston. The Plymouth apartment was within one-half mile of the Bayview Motel in Kingston. The information which the police had which led to the search warrants was that crack cocaine was stashed at the Bayview Motel for sale at the Smith apartment.

The police first executed the search warrant at the Smith apartment in Plymouth. The defendant Rabb, among others, was found there and arrested. The police found several rocks of crack cocaine on the floor [428]*428near the defendant. Police also found two pagers and a two-way walkie talkie radio in the apartment. The police then executed the search warrant at the Bayview Motel, finding a package containing 31.02 grams of 90 percent pure cocaine in a cereal box, and 82.05 grams of 89 percent pure cocaine in a radiator. The police also found a walkie talkie radio of an identical brand to the one found in the Plymouth apartment. At the police station, Rabb admitted that the 82.05 grams of cocaine found in the radiator were his, but claimed that the 31.02 grams found in the cereal box belonged to a Mr. Winn.

As a result of the execution of the two search warrants, the following charges were lodged against Rabb in the Plymouth District Court: first, arising from the Bayview Motel search, possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and trafficking in cocaine (9459 Cr. 0357, Counts B and C); second, arising from the Smith apartment search, possession of cocaine and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute (9459 Cr. 0361, Counts A and B). See Exhibit A for complaint and docket on case 9459 CR 0361. On May 2, 1994, the Bayview Motel based charges were dismissed and Rabb was indicted for trafficking in cocaine. See Exhibit B.

Prior to trial in this matter, Rabb pled guilty to the still pending district court charges and was given concurrent one-year house sentences, with six months to serve.1 Thereafter, on August 5, 1996, he moved to dismiss the instant indictment on the ground of double jeopardy. I denied this motion prior to trial. See docket entry 17. This case then proceeded to trial. Rabb’s contention at trial was that he and Winn operated independently from the Bayview Motel and that he was only responsible for the bag containing 82.05 grams. The juiy disagreed, finding that Rabb constructively possessed more than 100 grams of cocaine with the intent to distribute. He was thereafter sentenced to the mandatory minimum ten years to ten years and one day.

The Commonwealth’s theory at trial, as articulated by the prosecutor in his opening statement, was that Rabb was running a cocaine distribution business, with the “retail” store being in the Smith apartment in Plymouth and the “warehouse” being in the Kingston motel. The walkie-talkies were used to communicate between the Plymouth apartment and the Kingston motel. The police confirmed that the walkie-talkies were set on the same frequency. Rabb admitted to the police that he bought crack cocaine prepackaged and wrapped in Dorchester, brought it to the Bayview Motel, then would sell the cocaine at Smith’s Plymouth apartment. The crack cocaine found in the motel was wrapped in the same manner, was the same size, and had the same color and consistency as the crack cocaine seized at Smith’s apartment.

DISCUSSION

The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment protects against a second prosecution for the same offense after a defendant is either acquitted or convicted, and prevents the state from trying a defendant twice simply by dividing a single continuing offense into two separate offenses. Justices of Boston Mun. Court v. Lydon, 466 U.S. 294, 306-07 (1984); Gallarino v. Commonwealth, 362 Mass. 728, 732-33 (1975); Tarrant v. Ponte, 751 F.2d 459, 461 n.3 (D.Mass. 1984). The proscription against placing a defendant twice in jeopardy for the same offense has long been recognized as part of the common law of Commonwealth, and has become a matter of constitutional right by the application to the states of the Fifth Amendment. Thames v. Commonwealth, 365 Mass. 477, 479 (1974); Costarelli v. Commonwealth, 374 Mass. 677, 681 (1978). A defendant claiming double jeopardy has the burden of presenting sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie nonfrivolous claim of being placed twice in jeopardy for the same offense. Once such a claim is established, the burden shifts to the government to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the indictments at issue charge separate offenses. United States v. Chagra, 653 F.2d 26, 34 n.8 (1st Cir. 1981); United States v. Booth, 673 F.2d 27, 30 (1st Cir. 1982).

Under the Fifth Amendment, the test to determine whether multiple prosecutions would violate double jeopardy is the Blockburger test, which inquires whether each offense contains an element not contained in the other; if not, they are the same offense and double jeopardy prohibits successive prosecution or additional punishment. Blockburger v. United States, 52 S.Ct. 180, 183 (1932); United States v. Dixon, 113 S.Ct. 2849, 2856 (1993). Massachusetts courts utilize the “same evidence” standard in cases of successive prosecution, under which the test for identity of offenses is whether the defendant might have been convicted in the earlier prosecution by proof of the facts charged in the later indictment or complaint. Kuklis v. Commonwealth, 361 Mass. 302, 306-07 (1972); Commonwealth v. Gallarelli, 372 Mass. 573, 577-78 (1977); Commonwealth v. Levia, 385 Mass. 345, 350 (1982). Both these tests necessarily operate so that a defendant who has been tried for a lesser included offense cannot then be prosecuted for the greater offense and vice versa, with limited exceptions. Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 166 (1977): Costarelli v. Commonwealth, supra at 685.

Rabb was charged in Plymouth District Court with possession with intent to distribute cocaine in violation of G.L.c. 94C, §32A and in Superior Court with trafficking in cocaine in violation of G.L.c. 94C, §32E. The statutory elements of possession with intent to distribute are 1) the knowing or intentional possession of cocaine, 2) with intent to distribute. G.L.c. 94C §32A(a) (1995). The statutory elements of trafficking, [429]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Blockburger v. United States
284 U.S. 299 (Supreme Court, 1931)
Rewis v. United States
401 U.S. 808 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Brown v. Ohio
432 U.S. 161 (Supreme Court, 1977)
Justices of Boston Municipal Court v. Lydon
466 U.S. 294 (Supreme Court, 1984)
United States v. Dixon
509 U.S. 688 (Supreme Court, 1993)
United States v. Ralph Privett
443 F.2d 528 (Ninth Circuit, 1971)
United States v. Roy Condy Woods
568 F.2d 509 (Sixth Circuit, 1978)
United States v. Jamiel Chagra
653 F.2d 26 (First Circuit, 1981)
John Tarrant v. Joseph Ponte
751 F.2d 459 (First Circuit, 1985)
United States v. Jerome F. Blakeney
753 F.2d 152 (D.C. Circuit, 1985)
United States v. Luis Francisco Maldonado
849 F.2d 522 (Eleventh Circuit, 1988)
United States v. Charlie Joe Vaughn
859 F.2d 863 (Eleventh Circuit, 1988)
Costarelli v. Commonwealth
373 N.E.2d 1183 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1978)
Commonwealth v. Levia
431 N.E.2d 928 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1982)
Commonwealth v. Winter
402 N.E.2d 1372 (Massachusetts Appeals Court, 1980)
Commonwealth v. Chappee
492 N.E.2d 719 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1986)
Commonwealth v. Gallarelli
362 N.E.2d 923 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1977)
Commonwealth v. Diaz
417 N.E.2d 950 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
6 Mass. L. Rptr. 427, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-rabb-masssuperct-1997.