Commonwealth v. Alden, 105 N.E.3d 282

Defendant Matthew G. Alden, Jr. was tried in District Court and convicted under G. L. c. 268, § 13B for sending threatening text messages to E.B., a former girlfriend and potential witness in a pending criminal case against him.
E.B. received multiple threatening texts from the telephone number she had used to contact the defendant for over a year; the messages warned her not to "go to court" and included threats and urging self-harm.
The defendant denied sending the messages, testifying the phone was owned by his aunt, shared among several household members, left at the aunt's home, and that he was elsewhere when the messages were sent.
The trial judge found the Commonwealth had authenticated the texts by a preponderance of the evidence (based on the sustained pattern of communication between E.B. and the number and the content of the messages) and admitted testimony about their content.
The judge instructed jurors that (1) authenticity of authorship for the texts was a preliminary question to be decided by a preponderance of the evidence and (2) the Commonwealth still had to prove each element of the offense, including the defendant's identity as the sender, beyond a reasonable doubt.
On appeal, defendant challenged (a) authentication/admissibility of the texts and best-evidence issues, (b) propriety of cross-examination about specific text language, (c) jury instructions on the burden of proof, and (d) sufficiency of the evidence; the Appeals Court affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Authentication of text messages	Commonwealth: confirming circumstances (longstanding use of number; defendant answered calls; content tied to pending case) authenticate texts	Alden: phone was shared and not his; messages not properly linked to him	Court: Authentication satisfied by preponderance; confirming circumstances sufficient (authentic)
Best-evidence rule	Commonwealth: party-opponent exception allows testimony of defendant's own statements once authenticated	Alden: best-evidence required originals/screenshots; testimony about content improper	Court: No error; party-opponent exception applied after preliminary finding of authenticity
Cross-examination using exact text language	Commonwealth: good-faith belief texts could be established; screenshots existed and judge had ruled texts authentic	Alden: prosecutor relied on facts not in evidence, unfair foundation	Court: Cross-examination permissible; prosecutor had reasonable belief/foundation; no abuse of discretion
Jury instruction on burden for authorship vs. guilt	Commonwealth: preliminary authorship finding is governed by preponderance; guilt (identity as perpetrator) requires beyond reasonable doubt	Alden: instruction confused jury and lowered Commonwealth's burden on identity	Court: Instruction accurate and within discretion; overall charge made beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard clear; no reversible error

Commonwealth v. Purdy, 459 Mass. 442 (2011) (preliminary-authenticity standard and use of confirming circumstances to admit electronic communications)
Commonwealth v. Oppenheim, 86 Mass. App. Ct. 359 (2014) (authentication requirement for electronic communications)
Commonwealth v. Connolly, 91 Mass. App. Ct. 580 (2017) (authenticity requirement regardless of mode of introduction)
Commonwealth v. Williams, 456 Mass. 857 (2010) (insufficient authentication where account access was unrestricted and no confirming circumstances)
Commonwealth v. Salyer, 84 Mass. App. Ct. 346 (2013) (MySpace communications not authenticated without link to defendant)
Commonwealth v. Latimore, 378 Mass. 671 (1979) (standard for viewing evidence in light most favorable to Commonwealth on sufficiency)
Commonwealth v. Durand, 475 Mass. 657 (2016) (prosecutor's good-faith foundation for cross-examination matters)