Com. v. Geraway
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts |
| Writing for the Court | Before WILKINS; CUTTER |
| Citation | 245 N.E.2d 423,355 Mass. 433 |
| Decision Date | 07 March 1969 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH v. William GERAWAY. |
Page 423
v.
William GERAWAY.
Decided March 7, 1969.
[355 Mass. 434]
Page 424
Monroe L. Inker, Newton (Paul M. Sullivan, Boston, with him) for defendant.Richard W. Barry, Asst. Dist. Atty., for the Commonwealth.
Before [355 Mass. 433] WILKINS, C.J., and SPALDING, WHITTEMORE, CUTTER, KIRK, and REARDON, JJ.
[355 Mass. 434] CUTTER, Justice.
Geraway, on September 29, 1967, was charged by indictment with the murder of David Martin Sidlauskas on April 24, 1966, in Quincy not far from the Long Island Hospital. At the trial (February 7--20, 1968) he was found guilty of murder in the first degree. The jury recommended that the death penalty be not imposed. Geraway appealed. G.L. c. 278, §§ 33A--33G.
Only a few assignments of error have been argued. It is desirable, however, as background for consideration of even these assignments (and in connection with the performance of the duty imposed on us in a capital case by G.L. c. 278, § 33E, as amended through St.1962, c. 453), to state briefly the principal circumstances of the homicide which, on the evidence, the jury would have been warranted in finding. 1
On Sunday morning, April 24, 1966, Sidlauskas's body was found lying on a road
Page 425
on Moon Island near a gatehouse. He had been hit by two forty-five calibre pistol bullets, one of which caused his death. The body was found about 6:45 A.M. Blood was observed inside the gatehouse and on the road. Post mortem examination showed the Sidlauskas had been drinking heavily in the hours preceding his death.Geraway was not the first person tried for Sidlauskas's murder. The record reveals little about the earlier trial of one Ronald Jackman who was acquitted. It is stipulated that Jackman stated to police officers that he left Sidlauskas about 11 P.M. on April 23; that Jackman's wife testified at the earlier trial that Jackman was at home by midnight on [355 Mass. 435] the twenty-third and was still there when she awoke the next morning. At Gerway's trial, the evidence indicated that the fatal shot was fired from a forty-five calibre pistol, sold to Jackman by Richard Selter. The disassembled pieces of this gun were found near the place where the body was discovered. Jackman had claimed earlier that the gun had been stolen from him the week before the murder.
Against Geraway there was introduced substantial evidence of admissions by him of his responsibility for the death of Sidlauskas. This, and other significant evidence of his activities in and after March, 1966, are summarized below.
Geraway, prior to April, 1966, had been confined in the Correctional Institution at Walpole. On April 23 Carol Kennedy, who had been married to Geraway and later divorced, went with him to a gasoline station in Chestnut Hill and there rented a yellow Ford Falcon with a black interior. Geraway left her at her house.
The next morning, April 24, Miss Ruth Raycraft, a supervisor of nurses at Long Island Hospital, while driving to her work about 6:30 A.M. passed only one automobile between Squantum and the place where Sidlauskas's body was found. This was a 'yellow small car * * * a compact-type car.' It contained two persons. At the trial she identified the driver as Geraway. Nearer the hospital she saw a 'body * * * in the road.' She 'slowed down, looked at the body and speeded ahead to get help from the guards' at Long Island Hospital.
John Lashus, then employed as a security policeman at Long Island Hospital, at 6:15 A.M. went to Fields Corner. On his return trip, he passed a small yellow automobile, which was 'more than half * * * on * * * (his) side of the road.' It contained two people. At the trial, he identified Geraway as the driver of the yellow automobile. About two minutes after passing that vehicle, he also saw Sidlauskass's body lying in the road and reported it.
Several witnesses testified to reports of the murder made to them by Geraway. Certain aspects of their testimony are set forth below.
[355 Mass. 436] Patricia Dunn lived in an apartment in Dorchester with William Dennett. She first met Geraway with Dennett not long before April 248 1966. That day about 7:30 A.M. Geraway, wearing a sweater belonging to Dennett, came to her house. Geraway said to her, 'I think I just killed a man,' and asked to use the telephone. He also 'asked for the radio' and 'listened to the next news broadcast.' Then 'he mumbled to himself, 'They found him. " At the trial she recognized a piece, cut from a photograph of Geraway taken in March, 1966, as being a picture of the sweater worn by Geraway that morning.
Geraway's former brother-in-law, Edward Kennedy, on one Sunday morning in April, 1966, saw Geraway at his mother's house talking to Kennedy's sisters, Michelle LeClair and Carol Kennedy. Geraway told him that 'he whacked a guy last night,' because he 'aggravated me.' Carol Kennedy testified that Geraway on that Sunday morning '(s)aid to turn on the radio, he killed a guy.' When she asked 'why he killed a guy,' he 'said he thought it was Billy Dennett's wife's boyfriend.' Geraway appeared nervous. The next day he asked
Page 426
her to call the gasoline station where they had rented the automobile, 'so he could keep the car another day.' She would not do it, but her sister Michelle did.On April 28, 1966, Geraway again came to her house and remained a week. He 'didn't want to leave * * * because somebody might be able to identify him' and 'because * * * a couple of nurses that saw him coming down from Moon Island (near the scene of the homicide) might see him.' Just before he left, he 'said he was going to take off for a while,' because things 'were too warm around here.' He then had long hair. When she next saw him in the middle of May, he 'had a flat top.' 2
[355 Mass. 437] William Dennett, at the time of trial confined at Dedham jail on transfer from the Marquette (Michigan) prison, gave his occupation as 'check passer.' He first met Geraway at Walpole State Prison. Dennett saw Geraway every day in the pertinent period in April, 1966, at the partment where Dennett was living with Patricia Dunn. When, on the morning of April 24, Dennett returned, Geraway was 'talking on the phone.' Geraway reported to Dennett that he thought he 'had just killed a guy * * * (at) Moon Island,' and that he did not know whether two nurses could identify him. The gun, he said, was a forty-five calibre pistol which 'Eddie borrowed * * * off a guy * * * named Jackman.' Dennett advised him to get rid of the yellow Ford and to keep his mouth shut. Geraway said that he had been at Walter's After-Hours Club in Roxbury and 'had a fight with the guy * * * (who) pulled a knife.' He took the man to Moon Island on the pretext that 'there was some money dumped there.' When they got there, 'they had a couple of beers,' and entered a building. There Geraway blinded the victim with tear gas, and shot him. Later Dennett talked about the shooting with Geraway and his ex-wife at the latter's...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
People v. Lawrence, Cr. 14063
...see, McClain v. State (Ark.1969) 444 S.W.2d 99, 102--104; Vincent v. State (Del.1969) 256 A.2d 268, 270; Commonwealth v. Geraway (1969) 355 Mass. 433, 245 N.E.2d 423, 427--428; Barnes v. State (1968) 5 Md.App. 144, 245 A.2d 626, 630.) 3 Accordingly, Page 209 [481 P.2d 217] we conclude the r......
-
Com. v. Lawrence
...We conclude that the judge did not abuse his discretion in excluding the proffered third-party evidence. See Commonwealth v. Geraway, 355 Mass. 433, 441, 245 N.E.2d 423 (1969); Commonwealth v. Murphy, 282 Mass. 593, 597-600, 185 N.E. 486 (1933). Cf. Commonwealth v. Jewett, 392 Mass. 558, 56......
-
Bedford v. State, 75
...the jury. See Commonwealth v. Torres, supra; Lamoureux v. Commonwealth, 362 Mass. 880, (289 N.E.2d 842) (1972); Commonwealth v. Geraway, 355 Mass. 433, 438-440, (245 N.E.2d 423) cert. denied, 396 U.S. 911, (90 S.Ct. 226, 24 L.Ed.2d 186) (1969)." 376 Mass. at 409-10, 381 N.E.2d A similar iss......
-
Com. v. Mandeville
...v. Trefethen, 157 Mass. 180, 191, 31 N.E. 961 (1892). Such evidence is "too weak in probative quality," Commonwealth v. Geraway, 355 Mass. 433, 441, 245 N.E.2d 423, cert. denied, 396 U.S. 911, 90 S.Ct. 226, 24 L.Ed.2d 186 (1969), and would merely tend to mislead the 2. The Defendant's Expla......
-
People v. Lawrence, Cr. 14063
...see, McClain v. State (Ark.1969) 444 S.W.2d 99, 102--104; Vincent v. State (Del.1969) 256 A.2d 268, 270; Commonwealth v. Geraway (1969) 355 Mass. 433, 245 N.E.2d 423, 427--428; Barnes v. State (1968) 5 Md.App. 144, 245 A.2d 626, 630.) 3 Accordingly, Page 209 [481 P.2d 217] we conclude the r......
-
Com. v. Fitzgerald
...the jury. See Commonwealth v. Torres, supra; Lamoureux v. Commonwealth, 362 Mass. 880, 289 N.E.2d 842 (1972); Commonwealth v. Geraway, 355 Mass. 433, 438-440, 245 N.E.2d 423, cert. denied, 396 U.S. 911, 90 S.Ct. 226, 24 L.Ed.2d 186 (1969). We turn now to an evaluation of the substantive ide......
-
Com. v. Lawrence
...We conclude that the judge did not abuse his discretion in excluding the proffered third-party evidence. See Commonwealth v. Geraway, 355 Mass. 433, 441, 245 N.E.2d 423 (1969); Commonwealth v. Murphy, 282 Mass. 593, 597-600, 185 N.E. 486 (1933). Cf. Commonwealth v. Jewett, 392 Mass. 558, 56......
-
Com. v. Ross
...exhibition within United States v. Wade, 388 [361 Mass. 674] U.S. 218, 228, 87 S.Ct. 1926, 18 L.Ed.2d 1149. Cf. Commonwealth v. Geraway, 355 Mass. 433, 438--439, 245 N.E.2d 423. In this regard, we agree with the following statement from United States v. Bennett, 409 F.2d 888, 899--900 (2d C......