Com. v. Pidge

• Decision Date: 01 July 1987
• Citation: 509 N.E.2d 281,400 Mass. 350
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH v. Frederick N. PIDGE, Jr.

Page 281

509 N.E.2d 281

400 Mass. 350

COMMONWEALTH v. Frederick N. PIDGE, Jr.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts,

Middlesex.

Argued May 4, 1987.

Decided July 1, 1987.

Carlo Obligato, Committee for Public Counsel Services, Boston, for defendant.

Karen J. Kepler, Asst. Dist. Atty., for the Com.

Before HENNESSEY, C.J., and WILKINS, ABRAMS, NOLAN and LYNCH, JJ.

NOLAN, Justice.

The defendant, Frederick N. Pidge, Jr., was convicted by a jury of the murder in the first degree of William McCart. He was also convicted of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon upon Glenn Marrone and upon Dorothy Blackler Troy. The defendant was sentenced to life imprisonment on the murder conviction and to concurrent terms of six to ten years and two and one-half years to three years on the assault and battery convictions. He appealed the convictions, and we now reverse and order a new trial.

On Friday evening, October 5, 1984, the defendant met Glenn Marrone and William McCart at a Sudbury restaurant. The defendant and Marrone knew each other through a mutual friend, Dorothy Blackler Troy, but the defendant had never met McCart. At the restaurant, all three men were drinking alcoholic beverages. The three men left and went to another restaurant where they continued drinking. At the second restaurant, the defendant and McCart got into an argument. At approximately 1:30 A.M. on October 6, 1984, the three men left the restaurant and drove to Troy's house. The defendant had been staying at Troy's house, and Marrone frequently visited Troy and often did yard work for her. Marrone and the defendant each testified that he had a key to Troy's house, but Troy denied ever having given the defendant a key. On the way to the house, Marrone drove his automobile; the defendant sat in the passenger's seat, and McCart sat in the back seat. McCart and the defendant again began to argue.

From this point, Marrone's version of the events differs substantially from the defendant's. Marrone was the Commonwealth's chief witness. He testified that he kept a knife, which he used on his family's boat, in the front seat of his automobile. According to Marrone, the defendant grabbed the knife during the ride to Troy's house and waved it. McCart then punched the defendant and gave him a bloody nose. Marrone stopped the vehicle and the defendant got out and said he would walk. Marrone told the defendant to throw away the knife and get back in the vehicle. The defendant got back in the vehicle and said he had thrown the knife away. Marrone got out of the vehicle and looked for the knife but could not find it. He then drove to Troy's house without incident.

When the three arrived at Troy's house, McCart and the defendant went inside but Marrone remained behind to lock the vehicle and get his cigarettes. When Marrone entered the house, he heard McCart yelling for help. He saw both men struggling on their hands and knees with the defendant leaning over McCart. Marrone saw his knife in the defendant's hand and saw blood on the floor beneath McCart. Marrone jumped on the defendant in an effort to aid McCart, and the defendant turned and stabbed Marrone in the side. Troy and the other residents of the house were awakened and went to the kitchen area. The defendant stood up and whirled around, cutting Troy's hands. The defendant then ran out of the house. McCart died of a six-inch stab wound to the chest. It was stipulated that Marrone's knife or one similar to it caused the wound.

After the defendant left the house, Troy aided Marrone by putting towels on his wound. When she loosened his trousers to get at the wound, the knife sheath fell from Marrone's pants. By this time, the police had arrived, and Marrone told them that he put the sheath in his pants when he got out of the car to look for the knife on the ride to Troy's house.

The defendant's version of the incident differed substantially from Marrone's. He said he never picked up a knife during the ride to Troy's house. He was arguing with McCart in the car when McCart, without provocation, suddenly punched him in the back of the head. The defendant turned around, and McCart punched him in the nose causing him to bleed and rendering him unconscious. He regained consciousness in front of Troy's house where both Marrone and McCart were yelling at him. He became frightened and ran into the house. McCart grabbed him and started punching, and Marrone immediately began to punch him as well. All three fell to the floor in a struggle, and the defendant saw a knife in someone's hand. He was being choked, started to black out, and feared for his life when he grabbed the knife and started slashing randomly. He heard everyone yelling at him to get out, so he left and turned himself in to the police the next day.

On appeal, the defendant argues that he is entitled to a new trial because he was not permitted to introduce evidence of specific instances of McCart's violent conduct of which the defendant was aware. We agree. In Commonwealth v. Fontes, 396 Mass. 733, 735, 488 N.E.2d 760 (1986), we held that a defendant asserting self-defense in a homicide case "should be allowed to prove that at the time of the killing he knew of specific violent acts recently committed by the victim." Such evidence is relevant on the issue whether the defendant acted justifiably in reasonable apprehension of bodily harm. Id. at 735-736, 488 N.E.2d 760. Prior to Fontes, a defendant who claimed self-defense was permitted to introduce evidence of the victim's reputation for violence at the time of the...