464 Mass. 566 - Appellant Montoya Brief - Mass Cases

In his motion for a new t , the de also
raised the issue of ineffect assistance of counsel.
RA 59-60. As can be seen from affidavit sent
'defense counsel submitted wi this motion, trial
defense couns refused to provide any informat of
his trial strategy in not obj ing to the admission
of the drug ficates. RA 60-62.
In view of the decision of the SJC in Vasquez
decision rende after the ndant's motion r a
new trial was led and the that the is
entitled to harmless error analysis in this appeaT
with respect to the drug analysis certificates, the
issue of inef ive assistance of counsel in ling
to object to r admission at trial is moot.
However, re was one tant in the t where
the conduct defense counsel was clearly cient
and which is still before this Court. As scussed
above at pp. 37-38 supra, there was no excuse for
trial defense counsel in not obj ecting to t jury
considering strip with t figure of 43.5 ams
written on it and which strip was on t bag
containing individual pa s of alleged cocaine
in Exhib 5. This evidence was not only highly
47