Com. v. West
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts |
| Writing for the Court | Before WILKINS; SPALDING |
| Citation | 357 Mass. 245,258 N.E.2d 22 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH v. Lewis J. WEST, Jr. |
| Decision Date | 10 April 1970 |
Page 22
v.
Lewis J. WEST, Jr.
Decided April 10, 1970.
[357 Mass. 246]
Page 23
Reuben Goodman, Boston, for defendant.William J. Doyle, Asst. Dist. Atty., for the Commonwealth.
Before [357 Mass. 245] WILKINS, C.J., and SPALDING, KIRK, SPIEGEL, and REARDON, JJ.
[357 Mass. 246] SPALDING, Justice.
These are appeals under G.L. c. 278, §§ 33A--33H, from convictions on three indictments charging the defendant, respectively, with armed robbery, assault with intent to murder, and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon. The indictments arise out of the robbery of a savings and loan assocation in Boston on October 10, 1968, in which Paul F. Curley, a police officer, was shot twice by the fleeing robber.
We summarize so much of the testimony as is necessary to furnish a background for the questions presented. One Mary J. Burns, a bank teller, testified that at 1 P.M. on October 10 a tall stoop-shouldered man wearing black sunglasses pointed a gun at her and told her to fill a paper bag with money. As the man was walking toward the door, she signaled to a police officer who had just entered. The man then pulled his gun and shot the officer twice. The witness identified the defendant as the man who had robbed her and shot the officer.
Officer Curley testified that on October 10, while entering the bank to talk to an employee, his attention was attracted [357 Mass. 247] by a motion made by a teller, Mary Burns. As he turned partly around, 'there was a flash and a bang.' He observed on the right side of him, from where the flash had come, a white male about 6$' 1$' in height with a paper bag. The witness testified he then got a 'bang' in the chest and '(he) thought the top of (his) head was off,' and he fell to the floor.
The head teller of the bank, John Sylvestro, testified that he was in the bank and saw a man at the teller's window wearing a black leather three-quarter length jacket and black sunglasses. He saw this man shoot Officer Curley.
One Robert Carroll, the defendant's brother-in-law, who lived in Baldwin Park, California, testified that on October 11 the defendant called him from a Los Angeles bus depot. He further testified that the defendant later showed him a big was of money, was dressed all in black, and referred to himself several times in conversation as 'Boston Blackie.' Carroll's two nephews, Solomon and Lonnie Travis, testified that on October 12 in Baldwin Park the defendant produced a thirty-eight calibre pistol and some thirty to fifty thirty-eight shells, which they (the defendant and Solomon and Lonnie) used for 'target practicing.' The defendant told them that 'he had shot a cop in the back of the head and he didn't know whether he was alive or dead.'
The defendant alleges that the judge erred (1) in admitting testimony concerning the thirty-eight calibre pistol (assignment of...
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Com. v. Henson
...must prove a specific intent to murder. Salemme v. Commonwealth, 370 Mass. 421, 424, 348 N.E.2d 799 (1976). Commonwealth v. West, 357 Mass. 245, 250, 258 N.E.2d 22 (1970). We have noted that assault with intent to kill is a lesser included crime within the crime of assault with intent to mu......
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Com. v. DiMarzo
...353 Mass. 746, 230 N.E.2d 914 (1967). See also Commonwealth v. Subilosky, 352 Mass. 153, 224 N.E.2d 197 (1967); Commonwealth v. West, 357 Mass. 245, 258 N.E.2d 22 (1970). In the light of these precedents, it is perhaps of little importance that I may not be persuaded that there can never be......
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Com. v. Diaz
...general line. 14 [383 Mass. 80] In the Chase case, 372 Mass. at 750, 363 N.E.2d 1105, qualifying our decision in Commonwealth v. West, 357 Mass. 245, 249, 258 N.E.2d 22 (1970), and building upon thoughts expressed in Commonwealth v. DiMarzo, 364 Mass. 669, 680-682, 308 N.E.2d 538 (1974) (He......
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Ricketts v. State, No. 167
...prior conviction based on their construction of applicable statutes. State v. Prather, 290 So.2d 840 (La. 1974); Commonwealth v. West, 357 Mass. 245, 258 N.E.2d 22 (1970); Forbis v. Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., 513 S.W.2d 760, 88 A.L.R.3d 62 (Mo.App. 1974) and State v. Rush, 248 Or. ......
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Com. v. Henson
...must prove a specific intent to murder. Salemme v. Commonwealth, 370 Mass. 421, 424, 348 N.E.2d 799 (1976). Commonwealth v. West, 357 Mass. 245, 250, 258 N.E.2d 22 (1970). We have noted that assault with intent to kill is a lesser included crime within the crime of assault with intent to mu......
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Com. v. DiMarzo
...353 Mass. 746, 230 N.E.2d 914 (1967). See also Commonwealth v. Subilosky, 352 Mass. 153, 224 N.E.2d 197 (1967); Commonwealth v. West, 357 Mass. 245, 258 N.E.2d 22 (1970). In the light of these precedents, it is perhaps of little importance that I may not be persuaded that there can never be......
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Com. v. Diaz
...general line. 14 [383 Mass. 80] In the Chase case, 372 Mass. at 750, 363 N.E.2d 1105, qualifying our decision in Commonwealth v. West, 357 Mass. 245, 249, 258 N.E.2d 22 (1970), and building upon thoughts expressed in Commonwealth v. DiMarzo, 364 Mass. 669, 680-682, 308 N.E.2d 538 (1974) (He......
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Ricketts v. State, No. 167
...prior conviction based on their construction of applicable statutes. State v. Prather, 290 So.2d 840 (La. 1974); Commonwealth v. West, 357 Mass. 245, 258 N.E.2d 22 (1970); Forbis v. Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., 513 S.W.2d 760, 88 A.L.R.3d 62 (Mo.App. 1974) and State v. Rush, 248 Or. ......