Commonwealth v. Smith

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Defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree on the theory of extreme atrocity or cruelty. At issue was whether defendant's motion for new trial was properly granted where defendant challenged the instruction on extreme atrocity or cruelty and the instruction on reasonable provocation as it related to both murder and manslaughter. The court held that it was error to conclude that the instruction on extreme atrocity or cruelty created a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice and that the court did not adequately consider the issue of erroneous instruction on plenary review. The court also held that defendant was not entitled to the instruction on provocation and voluntary manslaughter where the evidence of "cooling off" was objective and sufficient to remove provocation as a mitigating factor on the question of malice. Therefore, the court held that the judge abused her discretion in granting defendant a new trial and the order was vacated. View "Commonwealth v. Smith" on Justia Law