Commonwealth v. Vazquez

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Defendant’s conviction for murder in the first degree on a theory of deliberate premeditation and declined to exercise its extraordinary power under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278, 33E. On appeal, Defendant argued that his defense counsel, the trial judge, and the prosecutor all committed error, requiring a new trial. The Supreme Judicial Court held (1) any error on the part of the defense counsel did not create a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice; (2) the admission of certain prior bad act evidence was error, but there was no substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice; (3) there was no error in the prosecutor’s remarks during closing argument; and (4) there was no error in the jury instructions. View "Commonwealth v. Vazquez" on Justia Law