Commonwealth v. Carter

After a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of, among other crimes, murder in the first degree on a theory of felony murder, based on the predicate felony of armed robbery. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated Defendant’s armed robbery conviction and affirmed his remaining convictions, holding (1) Defendant’s armed robbery conviction was the predicate felony for his felony-murder conviction, the only theory on which the jury found Defendant guilty of murder in the first degree, and therefore, the armed robbery conviction was duplicative; and (2) no other prejudicial error occurred during Defendant’s trial, and there was no other basis to exercise the Court’s authority pursuant to Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278, 33E. View "Commonwealth v. Carter" on Justia Law