Supreme Court decision not a get-out-of-jail card for every Massachusetts drug defendant convicted in recent years

The Massachusetts Appeals Court today upheld the 2007 conviction of a Lawrence man on marijuana-distribution charges even though prosecutors introduced certificates the leafy substance found in his bedroom was pot in a way the Supreme Court ruled last year was unconstitutional.

The appeals court ruled Irving Madera tripped himself up in his own defense, because he never claimed the green stuff wasn't marijuana, just that it wasn't his.

This means the Supreme Court's decision in a Boston case last year never came into play, because the authenticity of an expert's certificate that the stuff was marijuana was not a critical issue in the jury's deliberations, the appeals court said.

Here, the defendant's presence in the apartment, and the presence of the incriminating items in the room in which he slept and where his license and some of his clothes were found, provided sufficient evidence of the defendant's constructive possession of the contraband. ... Finally, the defendant's girlfriend testified that the marijuana she smoked was given to her by the defendant, evidence that is probative of both the defendant's possession and his intent to distribute. The judge did not err in denying the defendant's motion for a required finding of not guilty.

In recent months, the appeals court has overturned a series of drug convictions in which it said the certification issue did play a key role in the convictions.

Complete decision.