A Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court justice on Wednesday overturned the conviction of a lawyer accused of smuggling drugs into a prison, raising constitutional concerns over the prosecution’s use of a substitute expert witness.
The ruling follows years of appeals, and grants former attorney Elana Gordon a new trial.
According to court documents, in 2018, Gordon allegedly delivered two envelopes containing 61 orange strips of an unidentified substance to an inmate at the Plymouth County House of Correction.
The exchange occurred the day following two jail telephone calls with a first inmate, who instructed Gordon to transmit the “paperwork” to a second inmate and then pass it on to the first inmate.
Court documents say officers confiscated the envelopes because, based on training a