Commonwealth v. Cole

402 N.E.2d 55, 380 Mass. 30, 1980 Mass. LEXIS 1046
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMarch 5, 1980
StatusPublished
Cited by57 cases

This text of 402 N.E.2d 55 (Commonwealth v. Cole) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Cole, 402 N.E.2d 55, 380 Mass. 30, 1980 Mass. LEXIS 1046 (Mass. 1980).

Opinion

Abrams, J.

After the lunch break at the American Bosch Company’s plant on October 10, 1977, William Cole fatally shot Thomas Coppola. Cole then chased Joaquim Goncalves, shot Goncalves twice, and when Cole’s rifle misfired on the third shot aimed at Goncalves, Cole struck Goncalves on the head with the butt of the rifle. Coppola was Cole’s *31 general supervisor; Goncalves was Cole’s foreman. At trial the sole issue was Cole’s criminal responsibility. After fifteen hours of deliberation, a jury found Cole criminally responsible by convicting him of three criminal charges: murder in the first degree, armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon. 1 Cole appeals. See G. L. c. 278, §§ 33A-33G.

Cole claims that the trial judge erred in denying his motions for directed verdicts and motions for a new trial. 2 We find no error in the denial of Cole’s motions. Cole also asks us to exercise our power under G. L. c. 278, § 33E, because the verdicts are against the weight of the evidence. We do not consider this argument because we reverse pursuant to our plenary review power under § 33E for an error of law: the psychiatric evidence placed in issue the voluntariness of Cole’s confession, and the judge failed to instruct the jury on that issue. See Commonwealth v. Chung, 378 Mass. 451, 456-458 (1979). Cf. Commonwealth v. Alicea, 376 Mass. 506, 522-523 (1978).

The Commonwealth’s evidence showed that sometime before 11a.m. Cole told a fellow worker that he was going to kill Goncalves and Coppola. At that time Cole was “shaking.” 3 Cole then left the plant and returned around 11:30a.m., leaving his car double parked outside. Cole entered the plant, approached Goncalves, and asked for a meeting with him (Goncalves) and Coppola. Cole’s speech was clear, but he was “not calm.” Goncalves was unable to arrange an immediate meeting and Cole walked off. Short *32 ly thereafter Cole reentered the plant, armed with a .22 caliber rifle. The men in the shop stopped working to see what, if anything, would happen. Cole walked up to the spot where Coppola and Goncalves were working and said to them, “I’m going to kill you two guys.”

Ronald Roux, who was running a nearby machine, started to move away, but Cole said very calmly, “ Get back to your machine, I don’t want no trouble with you.” Michael Swiatlowski, who had been standing next to his machine alongside Coppola and Goncalves, started to run away, but Cole also told him to stay put: “Don’t you go anywhere. I’m not mad at you, I’m mad at these two guys.”

From where he stood, Swiatlowski heard Cole say, “I’m going to kill you [Coppola] first, then I’m going to kill Jack [Goncalves] second.” “I’ve got enough of you. I think I’m going to shoot you. So I’ll shoot you now.” Cole told Coppola and Goncalves: “You gave me a hard time this morning, I’m going to give you a hard time now.” Cole refused to put the gun away, because he said they (Coppola and Goncalves) would “fire him.” Coppola then demanded that Cole give him the rifle and stepped toward Cole to try to disarm him. At that time, Cole fired the rifle, thereby slaying Coppola.

Goncalves ran out a nearby alley door, pursued by Cole. Cole followed Goncalves down the alley, firing at him as he ran back into the plant. Cole continued to chase Goncalves. Once inside the plant, Goncalves kept running, telling people to call the guards. Cole fired at him again, and Goncalves fell to the floor. Cole put the gun to Goncalves’ heart and fired, but Goncalves twisted away so that the bullet entered through the abdomen instead. The gun jammed when Cole tried to fire a third time, and Cole then smashed the butt of the rifle into Goncalves’ skull.

The Springfield police 4 arrived at the Rosch plant at approximately noon. They found the defendant standing *33 with the gun pointed to his chest, his finger on the trigger. 5 Cole did not surrender the weapon until he arrived at the police station. The jury heard a tape recording of the Springfield police reading Cole the Miranda warnings, which took place at the station. Cole responded to the warnings by requesting a lawyer so that “everything will be nice and legal.” When the police then asked if Cole wanted to “tell [his] story,” Cole replied, “No, do you want to go by the law?” Cole then asked for a public defender because he couldn’t afford a lawyer. Cole was booked and gave responsive answers to the usual booking questions, such as address, age, height, eye and hair color.

After being taken into custody by the Chicopee police, Cole was again read the Miranda warnings. Cole signed a Miranda card and then told police that he had “shot both persons.” He had started to give the police a formal statement when defense counsel called the station and the interview stopped. 6 The police testified that the defendant’s behavior and physical appearance seemed normal, that his speech was not impaired, and that he appeared to understand and respond to what was being said to him. The officers testified that Cole did not appear confused or unsteady in any way.

During the Commonwealth’s case, the evidence showed that Cole and Goncalves had a series of disagreements over the number of machines Cole could operate simultaneously. Goncalves, as Cole’s foreman, 7 had restricted Cole to operating the machines separately. Since salaries were comput *34 ed on a piecework basis, Cole thereby sustained a substantial loss in pay.

On October 5, 1977, Cole had a dispute with Goncalves and Coppola over the quality of Cole’s work. Cole worked only a half day the following day, a Thursday, and he did not report for work at all on Friday.

At the close of the Commonwealth’s case, the defendant filed motions for directed verdicts of not guilty by reason of insanity. The motions were denied and exceptions taken.

The defense. The heart of the defense was the presentation of three medical experts who all testified that the defendant was not criminally responsible for his conduct on October 10, 1977.

On October 11, 1977, Cole was arraigned at District Court of Chicopee. The District Court judge ordered an immediate psychiatric examination pursuant to G. L. c. 123, § 15(o), which was performed on October 11, 1977, by a court psychiatrist. The court psychiatrist found Cole competent to stand trial, but he questioned Cole’s criminal responsibility. Cole was thereafter committed to Bridgewater State Hospital for further psychiatric observation and examination.

Twenty-eight days after Cole’s arrival at Bridgewater, Dr. Stephen G. Cronin, who was then director of forensic services at Bridgewater, conducted a competency and criminal responsibility examination.

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Bluebook (online)
402 N.E.2d 55, 380 Mass. 30, 1980 Mass. LEXIS 1046, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-cole-mass-1980.