Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/400/400mass612.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-20 00:26:17+00:00

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Present: HENNESSEY, C.J., WILKINS, ABRAMS, LYNCH, & O'CONNOR, JJ.
INDICTMENT found and returned in the Superior Court Department on October 19, 1983.
Robin A. Pearl, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth.
O'CONNOR, J. A jury convicted the defendant of unlawfully carrying a firearm. The same jury convicted the defendant's brother, Tyrone Weaver, of unlawfully carrying a firearm and of murder in the first degree. We affirmed Tyrone's convictions. Commonwealth v. Weaver, 395 Mass. 307 (1985). The defendant appealed his conviction, and the Appeals Court reversed on the ground that the trial judge had erroneously admitted evidence that, at the time of the confrontation between Tyrone and the murder victim, the defendant had possessed a knife and had threatened the victim's friend with it. Commonwealth v. Weaver, 21 Mass. App. Ct. 524 (1986). We granted the Commonwealth's application for further appellate review, and we now affirm the conviction.
occurred. During that argument, the defendant held a knife to the stomach of one of the victim's friends.
The crowd dispersed in response to the arrival of the police, but when the police left, the crowd gathered again. The victim returned to the scene and he and Tyrone resumed their argument. Tyrone went away and returned ten minutes later. The defendant was standing on the sidewalk at that time holding a knife by his side. Tyrone pulled a gun from his jacket and hit the victim with it. The victim staggered backwards. As he attempted to escape, Tyrone shot him in the back, killing him.
Tyrone then handed the gun to the defendant, who put it into his pocket. The defendant then entered a nearby building and went to his girlfriend's apartment on the third floor. Later, a police officer saw the defendant drop a gun from the window of a third-floor apartment. It was the gun that had been used to kill the victim.
The defendant argues that the judge erred in: (1) refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of necessity; (2) failing adequately to cure misstatements made by the prosecutor in his closing argument; (3) denying the defendant's motions to sever his trial from that of his brother; and (4) refusing to exclude certain evidence from the trial.
We conclude that there was no reversible error, and affirm the conviction.
The defendant was entitled to an instruction on the defense of necessity only if the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to raise that issue. "A judge need not charge the jury on a hypothesis not supported by evidence." Commonwealth v. Hood, 389 Mass. 581 , 593-594 (1983), quoting Commonwealth v. Thurber, 383 Mass. 328 , 331 (1981).
the jury could have found that his actions resulted in less harm and danger than would have been occasioned by his compliance with the criminal law. In order to raise the issue of necessity as a defense, there must also be evidence that the defendant was motivated by a desire to avoid the greater evil. "Actual necessity, without the intention, is not enough. If A kills his enemy B for revenge, and he later learns to his happy surprise that by killing B he saved the lives of C and D, A has no defense to murder." W.R. LaFave & A.W. Scott, Jr., Substantive Criminal Law Section 5.4 (d) (3), at 634 (1986 ed.). See also Model Penal Code Section 3.02 comments at 11-12 (1985). There was no such evidence here.
The defendant did not testify. While there undoubtedly are situations in which the justifying intention is fairly inferable solely from the circumstances surrounding a defendant's conduct -- as when an ambulance driver racing to a hospital exceeds a speed limit, or when a defendant seizes a firearm from one who had expressed an immediate intention to use it, and flees to a place of safe-keeping -- a jury asked to discern this defendant's reasons for violating the law would be forced to engage in pure speculation with respect to whether the defendant's intention was to prevent the greater evil or was to protect his brother or save himself from being implicated in the victim's death. The judge did not err in refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of necessity.
the jury to discover the truth. The prosecutor's assertion to the contrary was highly improper, and defense counsel seasonably objected. The judge instructed the jury as follows: "In final argument counsel for the Commonwealth suggested or stated -- I don't remember the exact words -- that his function was a certain function and the function of defense counsel was to pick out some doubts in a case. Well, that's incorrect. I told you the final arguments are not evidence. Final arguments are to assist you in understanding the evidence. Defense counsel represents his client and he has many duties, and I'm not going to go over the duties defense counsel has, but one of the duties, of course, is to cross examine witnesses, and it is through cross examination of witnesses that you the jury get the complete picture of all the evidence. So when defense counsel cross examines witnesses, obviously he's engaged in the presentation of all the evidence, the entire evidence, to you the jury." Defense counsel did not thereafter indicate to the judge any dissatisfaction with that instruction.
"In analyzing whether an improper statement has a prejudicial effect, we consider the prosecutor's entire argument, as well as the judge's instructions to the jury and the evidence presented at trial." Commonwealth v. Fernette, 398 Mass. 658 , 666 (1986). See also Commonwealth v. Haas, 398 Mass. 806 , 813 (1986). The judge's curative instructions removed any reasonable possibility of prejudice resulting from the prosecutor's improper remarks.
The defendant contends that the judge erred in denying his motions to sever his trial from that of his brother. He argues that severance was required in view of the adverse tactics of counsel for his brother, and because he was prejudiced by the inflammatory evidence relating to his brother's indictment for murder in the first degree. There was no error.
brother, was arrested and charged with murder on the night of the shooting; and counsel impeached a witness whose testimony was exculpatory of the defendant. "In this Commonwealth severance is usually a matter within the sound discretion of the trial judge. Commonwealth v. Cepulonis, 374 Mass. 487 , 499 (1978). Commonwealth v. Hogg, 365 Mass. 290 , 296 (1974). Joinder expedites the administration of justice, reduces the congestion of trial dockets, conserves judicial time, lessens the burden upon citizens who must sacrifice time and energy to serve upon juries, and avoids the necessity of recalling witnesses to successive trials. Johnson v. United States, [398 A.2d 354, 367 (D.C. 1979)]. Such considerations, however, must yield at some point to the rights of the accused. That point is reached when the prejudice resulting from a joint trial is so compelling that it prevents a defendant from obtaining a fair trial. In such circumstances, and upon the making of a timely motion, failure to sever constitutes an abuse of discretion." Commonwealth v. Moran, 387 Mass. 644 , 658 (1982). In Moran we ruled that the prejudice resulting from a joint trial was so compelling that it prevented the defendant from receiving a fair trial. But the facts of Moran were materially different from the facts of this case. The key fact requiring severance in Moran was that "[t]he only realistic escape for either defendant was to blame the other." Id. at 659. The defenses of the two defendants in Moran were "mutually antagonistic and irreconcilable." Id. That situation did not obtain in this case. Clearly, the only realistic possibility of Tyrone's acquittal did not require that he accuse the defendant of unlawfully carrying the murder weapon. The defendant's and Tyrone's defenses were not irreconcilable. Rather, at most, the defendant and Tyrone merely pursued inconsistent trial strategies as in Commonwealth v. Horton, 376 Mass. 380 , 390 (1978), cert. denied sub nom. Wideman v. Massachusetts, 440 U.S. 923 (1979), and that is not enough to require severance. Id.
by evidence relevant only to charges against his codefendant. See, e.g., United States v. Donaway, 447 F.2d 940, 943 (9th Cir. 1971); United States v. Sampol, 636 F.2d 621, 642-651 (D.C. Cir. 1980). But here, unlike in those cases, much of the testimony concerning the murder was admissible against the defendant because the Commonwealth was entitled to show the circumstances surrounding the defendant's activity giving rise to the gun carrying charge. We discuss this further in part 4 of this opinion. Furthermore, the judge carefully limited the jury's consideration of evidence admitted solely against Tyrone. It is highly unlikely that the jury was confused about the charges, the codefendants, or the evidence applicable to each of them. Thus, we conclude that joinder did not unfairly prejudice the defendant.
a. Prior convictions. The trial judge denied the defendant's motion to exclude evidence of his prior convictions for assault with intent to murder being unarmed, unarmed robbery (reduced from armed robbery), and simple assault and battery (reduced from assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon). These prior convictions were never placed in evidence because the defendant declined to testify.
dissimilar from the defendant's present charge, a possessory offense," that the judge's refusal to exclude evidence of them was within the judge's discretion.
b. Evidence of prior misconduct. The defendant contends that the trial judge erred in permitting over his objection the introduction of evidence that he possessed and brandished a knife shortly before his alleged carrying of a firearm occurred. Four witnesses testified to that prior misconduct during the course of the trial, and the prosecutor referred to that evidence in his opening and closing statements. Each time a witness mentioned the defendant's wielding the knife, the judge gave the jury careful instructions as to the limited use they were to make of that evidence. For example, after the first time a witness testified to the defendant's possession of a knife, the judge instructed the jury that "you realize that the only charge against Darrell Weaver at this time is unlawfully carrying a firearm. That is what he is charged with, unlawfully carrying a firearm and that is the only charge against him. . . . The limited purpose for this particular evidence at this point is to allow you the context, to allow you the context of what was transpiring that night. You should not infer any guilt against Mr. Darrell Weaver as to [his] carrying a firearm by virtue of the fact that this witness said that at one point in time he held a knife in his hand." The judge repeated that limiting instruction in his final jury instructions. There was no error.
"[W]hile evidence of other criminal or wrongful behavior may not be admitted to prove the character or propensity of the accused as enhancing the probability that he committed the offence for which he is standing trial, it is admissible for other relevant probative purposes." Commonwealth v. Chalifoux, 362 Mass. 811 , 816 (1973). Even if otherwise admissible, however, "there is ground for excluding such evidence if the prejudice likely to be generated by it outweighs its probative value -- a matter on which the opinion of the trial judge will be accepted on review except for palpable error." Commonwealth v. Young, 382 Mass. 448 , 462-463 (1981).
The value of the challenged evidence was not simply to show the probability that the defendant carried a gun without justification or excuse based on his propensity toward that kind of conduct. The evidence showed that the defendant had been an active participant in an on-going, although interrupted, altercation, and that the defendant had been "on his brother's side." Those facts, in turn, logically bore on whether the defendant intentionally carried the murder weapon from the scene in his own interests or those of his brother. Without the challenged evidence, the defendant's alleged unlawful carrying may have seemed an inexplicable and incongruous involvement in a dispute in which the defendant had no stake. See Commonwealth v. Bradshaw, 385 Mass. 244 , 269 (1982).
have had a significant prejudicial effect." Commonwealth v. King, 387 Mass. 464 , 476 (1982).

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