Court Opinion

ID: 9723885
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:37:22.383789+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:53.098971
License: Public Domain

*407Nolan, J.
(dissenting, with whom Braucher and Lynch, JJ., join). There should be a reversal only on a showing of grave prejudice or substantial likelihood that a miscarriage of justice has occurred. Commonwealth v. Grace, 381 Mass. 753, 758-759 (1980). The court has reversed a conviction in this case because the trial judge used language in his charge on malice condemned by the United States Supreme Court nine years after this trial. In Sandstrom v. Montana, 442 U.S. 510, 524 (1979), the Court registered its disapproval of jury instructions which tend to create a presumption of malice and thereby to shift to the defendant the burden of proof on such a substantive element. However, “whether a defendant has been accorded his constitutional rights depends upon the way in which a reasonable juror could have interpreted the instruction.” Sandstrom, supra at 514. There is no reversible error, however, if the charge read as a whole, makes clear that the Commonwealth must shoulder the burden of proof on every element of the crime. Commonwealth v. Medina, 380 Mass. 565, 578 (1980). On four occasions, at least, in his instructions, the judge emphasized the Commonwealth’s burden of proof on every substantive issue. No more should be expected of a judge. See Commonwealth v. Medina, supra at 577 n.5. The judge said that: “unless malice is shown by circumstances attending the killing, it is manslaughter. . . . [Mjalice is an indispensable ingredient of the crime of murder.” Nowhere did he even suggest that the defendant bore the burden of disproving malice. See Commonwealth v. Fitzgerald, 380 Mass. 840, 844-845 (1980); Commonwealth v. McInerney, 373 Mass. 136, 148-149 (1977).
The other basis for the reversal was the instruction on self-defense which the court sees as violating the tenets of Commonwealth v. Rodriguez, 370 Mass. 684 (1976), decided six years after this trial. However, there has been no violation of Rodriguez. The judge referred to the unlawfulness of the killing as one substantive element, proof of which must be borne by the Commonwealth. See and compare Commonwealth v. Cobb, 379 Mass. 456, 467 (1980). *408In his supplemental instructions, he told the jury that absence of legal justification for the killing must be proved by the government.
In fine, I fail to perceive that the “over-all impact” of the charge in its entirety permitted the jury to think for one minute that the defendant had any burden to prove any element of the crimes with which he was charged. See Commonwealth v. Sellon, 380 Mass. 220, 232 (1980). Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment of conviction.