Overview

• The Supreme Judicial Court unanimously vacated Elana Gordon’s 2021 conviction and ordered a new trial after finding a violation of her Sixth Amendment confrontation rights.
• A substitute chemist testified to an absent analyst’s findings identifying Suboxone, which the court held is constitutionally impermissible under Smith v. Arizona.
• Justice Dalila A. Wendlandt’s opinion announces a new Massachusetts rule governing forensic expert testimony that does not apply to convictions already final on appeal.
• Prosecutors will need to present the original testing analyst or develop other admissible proof, and the Plymouth County district attorney’s office said it is reviewing the ruling.
• Justice Serge Georges concurred in the judgment but argued that experts may testify based on independent review of raw, machine-generated data without violating confrontation rights.