Commonwealth v. Jacobs

381 N.E.2d 1109, 6 Mass. App. Ct. 618, 1978 Mass. App. LEXIS 625
Massachusetts Appeals Court·Decided October 13, 1978·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Keville, J.

The defendant was found guilty after a jury-waived trial in the Superior Court of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and of the unlawful carrying of a firearm on his person. His appeal is here pursuant to the provisions of G. L .c. 278, §§ 33A-33G.

The principal witnesses for the Commonwealth at trial were the victim of the assault and battery, Eugene Trioli, and his companion Christopher Johnson. They testified as immunized witnesses following grants of immunity pursuant to the provisions of G. L. c. 233, §§ 20E and 20F.

Before addressing the only assignment of error argued, viz., the denial of the defendant’s motion for a finding of not guilty, we summarize the evidence.

From the testimony of Trioli and Johnson there was evidence that on April 5, 1976, at about 11:30 p.m., they entered the Normandy Lounge on Essex Street in the section of Boston known as the "combat zone.” Johnson ordered a beer but Trioli refused to order. Following her conversation with two men at the end of the bar, the barmaid informed Trioli that he must order a drink. He again refused. Almost immediately thereafter the defendant, after conversing with the two men at the end of the bar, approached Trioli and struck him on the head with a club which resembled a police nightstick. A scuffle ensued. Johnson took the club from the defendant and hit him on the head, a blow which felled him. Then Trioli and Johnson, observing the approach of the two men with whom the barmaid had talked, made their exit by a fire door entering upon an alley and thence on to Essex Street where they saw the defendant and the two men standing in the door of the lounge.

[620] At that juncture the defendant opened fire on them with what appeared to be a small caliber weapon. In response, Trioli drew a revolver and aimed it at the defendant. One of the men jumped Trioli who threw him over his shoulder. In the meanwhile Johnson had rushed in and subdued the defendant. As Johnson and Trioli walked away from the defendant in the direction of Harrison Avenue, leaving him in possession of his firearm, the defendant fired several shots wounding Trioli in both legs. The hospital record introduced in evidence by the Commonwealth at trial indicated that Trioli had been shot from behind in the right thigh and left calf.

Johnson and Trioli continued along Essex Street where they were met by police in a cruiser. Trioli surrendered his revolver, for which he had a license, to the police who testified at trial that the weapon was fully loaded with five or six rounds and no expended shells. Police officers related that Trioli and Johnson and the defendant were all taken to the Massachusetts General Hospital by the police and that shortly thereafter the police found a loaded .25 caliber semi-automatic under a car in the parking lot adjacent to the lounge. At trial this weapon was identified by Trioli as being similar in appearance to the small caliber weapon held by the defendant during the shooting.

A police ballistician testified that the weapon was a .25 caliber automatic with an obliterated serial number and a single live round, that the weapon was capable of being fired, that its magazine had a capacity of eight bullets when fully loaded and that prior to a firing test made by him there was evidence in the firing chamber which indicated that the weapon had been fired.1

[621] The defendant contends that the evidence introduced by the Commonwealth was insufficient measured by the requirements of G. L. c. 233, § 201, inserted by St. 1970, c. 408, which provides that "[n]o defendant in any criminal proceeding shall be convicted solely on the testimony of, or the evidence produced by, a person granted immunity under the provisions of section twenty E.” Specifically, the defendant argues that the Commonwealth’s evidence, other than the testimony of the immunized witnesses, was insufficiently corroborative of the testimony of those witnesses. In addition he contends that such other evidence could not properly be considered for the purpose of corroborating the testimony of the immunized witnesses because its foundation was laid by their testimony.

The corroborative evidence offered against the defendant in this case consisted of the following: (1) The discovery near the Normandy Lounge by the police of the .25 caliber gun resembling that allegedly used by the defendant; (2) police testimony which tended to prove that this gun had been fired while Trioli’s gun, containing five or six rounds, had not; and (3) the hospital record, which not only confirmed the fact of Trioli’s wounds, but corroborated testimony of Trioli and Johnson indicating that Trioli had been shot from behind.

No testimony, other than that of the immunized witnesses, confirmed that it was the defendant who stood at the doorway of the Normandy Lounge firing a gun at Johnson and Trioli. However, § 201 does not "require corroborating testimony identifying the defendant as a par[622] ticipant in the crime.” Commonwealth v. DeBrosky, 363 Mass. 718, 730 (1973). In DeBrosky the court noted that other "corroboration” statutes in Massachusetts and elsewhere specifically require corroborative evidence tending to connect the defendant to the crime. In contrast, the language of § 201 is less explicit. Its purpose of ensuring the credibility of testimony given by immunized witnesses may be fulfilled by requiring only "that there be some evidence in support of the testimony of an immunized witness on at least one element of proof essential to convict the defendant.”2 Ibid.

In Commonwealth v. Scanlon, 373 Mass. 11, 20 (1977), in which the defendant and his immunized accomplice had forced the victim into a car and taken him for a ride which ended in the victim’s being shot to death, the defendant admitted to most details of the incident except the shooting itself which he attributed to the immunized accomplice. There the court noted that "the testimony of the immunized witness was corroborated under ... [the DeBrosky] standard as to one element of proof essential to convict the defendant — that... [the victim] died as the result of gunshot wounds to the head.” Ibid. Thus, there was adequate corroboration "despite the fact that only ... [the immunized witness] and ... [the defendant] could say how the killing actually occurred.” Ibid. Similarly, in the instant case, independent evidence establishing that the defendant did the shooting is not required under § 201. See Commonwealth v. Doyle, 5 Mass. App. Ct. 544, 550 (1977).

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Commonwealth v. Jacobs, 381 N.E.2d 1109, 6 Mass. App. Ct. 618, 1978 Mass. App. LEXIS 625 (Mass. Ct. App. 1978).

381 N.E.2d 1109 (Commonwealth v. Jacobs) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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