2 Mass. App. Ct. 840 | Mass. App. Ct. | 1974
The defendants were indicted for possession of marihuana and heroin and possession of heroin with intent to sell, were tried jointly before a jury, and were convicted of all charges. The defendants’ bill of exceptions (G. L. c. 278, § 31) brings before this court: (1) the sufficiency of the search warrant under which narcotics and narcotics paraphernalia were seized; (2) the admissibility of the items so seized; and (3) the propriety of the judge’s refusal to grant a mistrial because of the district attorney’s characterization of the defendants as “merchants of death” in his closing argument. There was no error. The defendants’ contention that the omission of the affiant’s name and the date in the acknowledgement on the affidavit vitiates the entire warrant for noncompliance with the requirements of G. L. c. 276, § 2B, as amended by St. 1965, c. 384, is answered in Commonwealth v. Snow, 363 Mass. 778, 784-786 (1973). The defect is “hypertechnical” and does not invalidate the warrant. See United States v. Ventresca, 380 U. S. 102, 109 (1965).
Exceptions overruled.