464 Mass. 566 - Appellant Montoya Brief - Mass Cases

easily distinguishable. In that case, a pol officer
was allowed to testify at trial that one-eighth of an
ounce of cocaine was the equival 3.5 grams and
, that one-quarter ounce was seven The SJC held
that this jury could extrapolate this that one
hundred grams was less than ounces. Therefore
when the large hard ball of coca was taken into the
jury room, the jury could form a lay opinion that it
weighed more than four ounces. Id. at pp. 831-832. In
this case, there was no is r the jury to make a
similar extrapolation. Although Detective Hyde, while;
testifying how cocaine is ged for street sale,
described an fteight " as one eighth of an ounce or
3.5 grams, he did not testify that in his opinion the
individually wrapped introduced into evidence as
,
Exhibit 5 were" ght balls flB • In fact, he admitted
that he had not ewed any police reports nor had he
even seen the s containing the alleged cocaine
before taking (2/133-134): Furthermore, the
motion judge's it finding that Detective Hyde's
testimony provided reliable alternative evidence
concerning weight of the alleged contraband
8 Detective Hyde so stated that cocaine was samet s
broken down into smaller lots for street s e in
amounts one gram and half a gram. (2/128)
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