Commonwealth v. Chin Kee

186 N.E. 253, 283 Mass. 248, 1933 Mass. LEXIS 984
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court·Decided June 5, 1933·Published·Cited by 51 cases

Opinion

Donahue, J.

Ong Sing Ping, sometimes known as Sam Lee, a native of China and about sixty-five years old, was shot and killed in his laundry on Grove Street, Melrose, about 8:45 on the evening of August 24, 1932. The defendant, who was thirty-three years old and also of the Chinese race, was indicted for murder on September 13, 1932, and was later tried and convicted of murder in the first degree. His appeal brings before us on the record fifteen assignments of error.

There was evidence which warranted the jury in finding the facts which are here briefly summarized. The premises occupied by the deceased in the conduct of his laundry consisted of a front room, facing Grove Street, where customers delivered and received laundry and where ironing was done; back of the front room was a second room used by the deceased for living and sleeping quarters and for other purposes, and beyond this a third room in the rear of the building. From this third room a door led to a toilet from which another door gave entrance to a room, or compartment used for the storage of coke. On the evening of the killing the front room was lighted. The jury had a view.

The defendant, who had been out of work for six months, left his room on Hudson Street, Boston, about six o’clock on the evening of August 24, and at about seven boarded an elevated train at the Essex Street station, went to Everett and took a bus for Melrose. At Melrose he inquired the way to the deceased’s laundry, where he had never been before, arriving shortly after 8:30. He went into the front room and finding no one there went into the second room. Ten or fifteen minutes later several persons in the neighborhood heard screams in the laundry, followed in several seconds by the sound of a shot and after another interval of several seconds by another shot. Shortly after-wards the defendant came from the second room into the front room, wearing a hat and coat, and locked the outside [252] door. Then he went back into the second room but in a short space of time came again into the front room without hat or coat and started ironing. A little later a customer seeking his laundry tried the door, found it locked and shook it. The defendant who was then in the second room came out. The customer from outside the door asked for his laundry and the defendant told him to “Go away”; the customer again asked for his laundry and the defendant replied, “Tomorrow; by and by.” The customer asked where “Sam” was and the defendant answered, “Sam is gone home.” Again the customer demanded his laundry and held his laundry check up against the glass of the door. The defendant then came and opened the door about six inches. The customer stepped to one side in front of the window and the defendant locked the door again and went back to the ironing board. A police officer in uniform named Warner then came and knocked on the door; he asked the defendant to open the door and the defendant said: “No.” The officer then put his shoulder against the door and threatened to break it down if the defendant did not open and the defendant came and unlocked it. The officer asked where Sain Lee was and the defendant replied: “Don’t know. Gone out.” The officer pushed the defendant before him into the second room and the defendant led him into the third room where there was a gas jet burning and said: “See? Sam gone.” As the officer turned to go toward the front of the laundry he heard a gurgling sound and looking saw what he took to be a bundle lying across some boards. He went over, took up a comforter and underneath was the body of the deceased on a small bed. He asked the defendant, “Who did this?” and the defendant said: “I don’t know.” There was a wound in the abdomen where, according to the medical examiner who performed an autopsy, a bullet had entered the body from a weapon which was discharged when pressed close against the abdomen, and a wound in the back where the bullet had made its exit. There was a wound in the left eye made when a bullet had entered from a weapon held one eighth to one fourth of an inch away and a wound in [253] the back of the head made when the bullet left. In the opinion of the same witness the wound through the abdomen would not cause instant death and the wound through the eye would. There were marks on the neck caused by fingernails, three abrasions on the chest, and numerous small black and blue areas and abrasions about the upper part of the back and shoulders.

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Commonwealth v. Chin Kee, 186 N.E. 253, 283 Mass. 248, 1933 Mass. LEXIS 984 (Mass. 1933).

186 N.E. 253 (Commonwealth v. Chin Kee) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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