Com. v. Paradise

• Decision Date: 14 June 1989
• Citation: 405 Mass. 141,539 N.E.2d 1006
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. Lionel J. PARADISE, Jr.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 1006

539 N.E.2d 1006

405 Mass. 141

COMMONWEALTH v. Lionel J. PARADISE, Jr.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Worcester.

Argued Feb. 7, 1989.

Decided June 14, 1989.

John F. Buckley, Worcester, for defendant.

Katherine E. McMahon, Asst. Dist. Atty., for Com.

Before WILKINS, LIACOS, ABRAMS, NOLAN and LYNCH, JJ.

LIACOS, Justice.

The defendant, Lionel J. Paradise, Jr., appeals from his convictions of the murder in the first degree of Angel G. Lawrence and of Lowell Jason Strait. ¹ The defendant argues that he was irremediably prejudiced by the Commonwealth's failure to inform him until the eve of trial of the statements of an allegedly exculpatory witness. He claims he is therefore entitled to have the indictments dismissed, or that he should have a new trial. The defendant also claims that the prosecutor improperly rebutted the transcribed statements of the absent exculpatory witness, that the prosecutor's closing argument was improper, and that the judge responded improperly to three questions asked by the jury. He asserts numerous other claims of error. We conclude that there was no error and that this case presents no occasion for us to exercise our extraordinary power under G.L. c. 278, § 33E (1986 ed.). We affirm the defendant's convictions. We summarize the evidence before the jury.

1. The incident. Some time after 9:30 P.M. on April 25, 1984, at 14 Maynard Street in Winchendon, April Strait awoke and heard someone coming upstairs where she, her brother and her sister were in bed. April's brother Jason, nicknamed "JJ," was nine years old; April was eleven at the time of trial in November of that year; and April's half-sister, Angel Lawrence, was fifteen. April heard a person entering Angel's bedroom and closing the door. Shortly thereafter, April heard Angel scream, "April, JJ, help me." April also heard Angel say, "What is this, some kind of joke?" April went to her sister's room, opened the door, and saw a man, whose back was toward her, repeatedly stabbing Angel with a knife. April tried to approach the man but twice he pushed her into an open closet where she hit her head on the wall. The man wore a "[y]ellowish, tannish" jacket, which was zipped closed, and he wore "darkish" pants. He had a stocking over his face and head, and he had hair that was "[b]rownish," as well as a moustache, and what April described as a "beard" on the side of his face.

April approached the man a third time. The man stopped stabbing Angel and "went after" April. April grabbed a pillow from Angel's bed and placed it against her stomach. As she retreated, she fell backward. The man began to stab April through the pillow, and April became unconscious. April regained consciousness as the door to Angel's room was being shut. She could hear Angel "mumbling," but could not understand her. April heard the kitchen door shut, and, with some difficulty, she reached the telephone. Angel said, "Don't April. Don't make no phone calls," but April nevertheless tried, unsuccessfully, to telephone her grandmother and a friend. April then lay down again. Angel, meanwhile, was mumbling and banging her head on the wall. At some point, Angel became quiet. April went downstairs and laid down on a couch. ²

April's mother, Hope Caroline Strait, arrived home shortly after April lay down on the couch, sometime before 1:30 A.M. April told her mother: "A man came and stabbed us ... [a] man with a stocking over his face." April said that Angel and Jason were upstairs, and that they "got it worse than she did." Hope raced upstairs, did not see anyone, and returned to April. She telephoned the police, her husband, and emergency services, and then, "just froze." Lowell Dean Strait, Hope's husband, arrived first, found Angel and Jason upstairs, and attempted to revive them, without success. April was rushed to a hospital.

April was in shock; she had suffered facial cuts and blood loss, and she had "a protruding bowel, or intestine, protruding out of [her] shirt." Dr. Edward B. Sussman, a pathologist, described Angel's and Jason's condition. Angel had sustained nineteen "stab and incised wounds" to her head, neck, arms, chest, and abdomen, including several "defense wounds." One of the stab wounds had penetrated Angel's heart, her lungs had collapsed, she showed signs of marked blood loss, and there were signs of asphyxiation. Dr. Sussman observed that Angel's slip "appeared to be ripped off the upper portion" of her body. There was no evidence of seminal fluid. Jason suffered twenty-two "stab and incised" wounds, including nine to his head and six to his chest. One of the stab thrusts to his head had penetrated Jason's skull and his brain. Jason's wounds also included "defense-type" injuries.

2. Evidence against the defendant. On April 25, 1984, the defendant, Lionel J. Paradise, Jr., his wife, Carla, and Hope Strait went to the Curve Inn, a local bar featuring "male exotic dancers." Paradise and Carla knew Hope socially. They were neighbors, living within a five-minute walk of each other. Carla often babysat for April and Jason Strait. At the bar, Paradise borrowed some "Salem Light 100's" cigarettes from Hope, and she saw him use his stainless steel cigarette lighter with a unicorn emblem. Paradise wore black slacks and a dark brown jacket with beige sleeves, which he kept zipped closed. At that time, Paradise, whose hair is brown, had long, thick sideburns, described at trial as "mutton-chop sideburns," and a moustache.

At some point after 10 P.M., Paradise asked Hope if he could get cigarettes from her house. Paradise had been in Hope's house on prior occasions, sometimes when Hope and Dean Strait were absent, and Hope gave him permission to get the cigarettes. She also asked if he would "check on [her] kids." Paradise and Carla left at approximately 10:30 P.M.

Paradise and Carla went from the bar to the Straits' house, then picked up their daughter from a babysitter, and, on the way home, stopped by the Straits' house again. ³ Paradise later told a police officer that he had stopped to get another pack of cigarettes. The couple went home, but Paradise left their home again at approximately 10:55 P.M. He returned shortly thereafter. Carla could not recall how long Paradise was gone. When Paradise returned, Carla observed that he had no clothing on above his waist. Paradise went straight to the bathroom, and Carla heard water running. The couple soon went to bed.

At approximately 2:30 A.M., on April 26, 1984, Audrey LaFreniere, Carla's mother, called from the hospital where April Strait had been taken. Paradise answered the telephone and left. Carla did not find out about the events in the Straits' house until later. Paradise picked up Hope's brother, and arrived at the hospital around 4 A.M. Carla's father, Walter LaFreniere, was at the hospital at that time, and he recalled that Paradise then remarked that he must have lost his lighter "stumbling in Mr. Comeau's cellar." Paradise and LaFreniere left the hospital separately at approximately 5 A.M., and went to the latter's home. Paradise asked for another cigarette and stated that he had probably left his cigarettes and lighter on the television in the Straits' house. He added, "Knowing Angel, she probably brought it in her room." Hope later testified that Angel was asthmatic, and could not tolerate cigarette smoke. Paradise left after two cups of coffee and returned to his home at 6 A.M.

Paradise left his house twice more while Carla was at home. On one of these occasions, at approximately 8 A.M., Paradise brought three jackets to a local dry cleaner. One of the jackets was the one Paradise had worn on the night of April 25. Paradise "asked to have them done in a hurry ... on account of the weather always changing." Paradise then returned home. At approximately 8:20 A.M., the police telephoned and asked him to come to the Winchendon police station. He changed his clothes and left with Carla.

At the police station, Paradise was interviewed by Sergeant Joseph M. Doheny of the State police. Doheny had been informed that another officer had discovered a lighter and a package of cigarettes at the Straits'. When Paradise was asked about his whereabouts on the evening of April 25, he related the events up to his visit to the Strait house at approximately 10:30 P.M., and he stated that he had left his cigarettes and lighter on the Straits' television set. At that point, Doheny read Paradise the Miranda rights from a card. Paradise signed an affirmation on the card that he understood those rights. He stated that he wished to talk with a police officer; the interview continued. Paradise described his clothing the previous evening, but described his shirt as a "blue and red long-sleeve shirt," whereas Carla later described his shirt as a "sequined shirt." Paradise agreed to produce the clothing he had described, and two police officers accompanied him to his home. Paradise produced some slacks, shoes, and a shirt, and, after a search, he stated, "I think that [the brown and beige jacket] may be one of the jackets I took to the cleaners this morning." Doheny examined the clothing, and he noticed red spots that appeared to be blood on the shoes and on the inside of the pocket of the slacks.

The police officers accompanied Paradise to the dry cleaner and retrieved the jacket. Chemical analysis later revealed that the jacket had traces of human blood on its "tag" and under a "snap" that had not been unfastened prior to cleaning. The officers and Paradise returned to the police station where questioning resumed. When asked how blood came to be on his shoes and slacks, Paradise said, "How the hell do I know?" Doheny asked, "Can you tell me how your lighter and cigarettes got upstairs right by [Angel's] body?" Paradise said, "She probably took them up." When asked, "Why would she do that," Paradise said, "Because her mother always tells her every time me or Carla leaves...