Court Opinion

ID: 9530694
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:02:46.815573+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:13.127463
License: Public Domain

*323O’Connor, J.
(dissenting). The defendant’s convictions depended on the jury’s believing Alvarez, and the jury could not have believed both Alvarez and the defendant. Therefore, a comparison of their credibility was critical. The judge’s instructions must be evaluated in that context. I believe that the effect of the jury charge “was to throw the weight of the judge’s opinion [as to the relative credibility of Alvarez and the defendant] in the scales against the defendant,” Commonwealth v. Foran, 110 Mass. 179, 180 (1872), and that this was error which created a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice, requiring a new trial.
After summarizing the defendant’s testimony, the judge instructed the jury that in weighing his testimony they were entitled to consider his interest in the outcome of the case. Then, after summarizing Alvarez’s testimony, the judge charged the jury that in weighing his testimony the jury could consider the fact that Alvarez inculpated himself as well as the defendant, that Alvarez told the court that he was aware that he was inculpating himself, and that when this was done Alvarez had counsel. The clear import of these instructions was that the defendant’s testimony was self-serving, and therefore entitled to little weight, but that Alvarez’s testimony was not self-serving but rather was against his own interest, and therefore was worthy of belief.
The instruction was erroneous for two reasons. First, determination of the credibility of witnesses is within the exclusive province of the jury, and must not be encumbered by the possible influence of the judge’s opinion. Commonwealth v. Sneed, 376 Mass. 867, 870, 872 (1978). Commonwealth v. Barry, 9 Allen 276, 278-279 (1864). See G. L. c. 231, § 81. Second, the implication that Alvarez’s testimony was against his interest was misleading because it suggested, without evidentiary support, and perhaps contrary to fact, that he had nothing to gain by it. See Commonwealth v. Barry, supra at 277, 278. Alvarez had been indicted for murder in the first degree, armed robbery, arson, and larceny of a motor vehicle in connection with the events to which he testified. At the time of the defendant’s trial, *324those indictments were still pending. Disposition of Alvarez’s case had been continued repeatedly during the months prior to the defendant’s trial. Alvarez may well have believed that his own conviction was likely and that assisting the Commonwealth would bring its reward. If Alvarez did gamble on earning the Commonwealth’s favor, it would appear that he won. A week after the defendant was convicted, Alvarez appeared before the judge who presided over the defendant’s trial and pleaded guilty to murder in the second degree, armed robbery, arson, and larceny of a motor vehicle. The judge sentenced Alvarez to concurrent sentences of seven to twenty years on the indictments for armed robbery and arson. Despite the mandate of G. L. c. 265, § 2, that second degree murder be punished by imprisonment for life, the judge sentenced Alvarez to a six-year term of probation on the indictment for murder, the term to take effect at the expiration of the sentence imposed on the armed robbery indictment. The judge placed the indictment for larceny of a motor vehicle on file.
I agree with the court’s statement that “we examine the charge in its entirety to determine its over-all impact on the jury.” Supra at 321. I do not agree, however, that statements in a jury charge indicating the judge’s opinion of the credibility of particular witnesses, or direct or indirect misstatements of a witness’s motivation in testifying, are corrected by general statements, no matter how many times repeated, that the jurors are the sole judges of the facts and that it is for them to decide what weight will be given to the evidence. This is the holding of Commonwealth v. Foran, supra at 180. We cannot fairly assume that as a result of being told that it is for them to decide what witnesses are to be believed, jurors can be relied on to ignore the judge’s proffered opinion as to the facts.
In my opinion, the jury instructions were erroneous because they were misleading as to a matter that was relevant to Alvarez’s credibility and because the exclusive province of the jury to find facts was invaded by the judge. Because Alvarez’s credibility was critical to the convictions, I believe *325that there is a substantial likelihood that a miscarriage of justice has occurred. G. L. c. 278, § 33E. Accordingly, I would reverse the convictions and order a new trial.