Massachusetts Middlesex County Intoxication Murder Lawyers Attorney

by

Atchuthan Sriskandarajah

COMMONWEALTH v. MARTIN BOWLER

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Middlesex

December 6, 1989

May 9, 1990

Facts:

The defendant, accompanied by two other individuals, was driving a motor vehicle in Watertown. One individual got off the car and the other person; Williams went to a pub and met the victim. They were drunk. Then the defendant and another friend went to Williams’s apartment in Watertown. There argument ensued and the defendant approached the victim with a carving knife and punched him several times in the head and top half of his body. He later returned to the victim and kicked him several times in the head, while the victim lay on the floor bleeding. The victim died nine days later as a result of stab wounds to the chest. During defendant’s trial for murder, he presented evidence that he was intoxicated. The jury convicted defendant of second degree murder. Defendant appealed and argued that the trial court improperly instructed the jury regarding the effect of his intoxication.

Issue:

Whether the trial court erred in instructing the jury regarding the effect of defendant s intoxication?

Discussion:

This court held that the error in the jury instruction was waived by defendant’s failure to object to it during the trial. Because the

evidence of intoxication

was weak, and the evidence of malice was strong, the court concluded that there was little, let alone substantial, risk that the improper jury instruction affected the verdict. The court found that defendant had not been denied effective assistance of counsel because of his counsel’s failure to object to the instruction. The court found that defendant had not been denied effective assistance of counsel because of his counsel’s failure to object to the instruction. This court held that the evidence was very sparse both with respect to the amount of alcohol and cocaine the defendant consumed and with respect to its effect on him.

Conclusion:

This court hence affirmed the judgment convicting the defendant of murder in the second degree in favor of the state.

Disclaimer:These summaries are provided by the SRIS Law Group. They represent the firm s unofficial views of the Justices opinions. The original opinions should be consulted for their authoritative content

Atchuthan Sriskandarajah is a Virginia lawyer and owner of the SRIS Law Group. The SRIS Law Group has offices in Virginia, Maryland,

Massachusetts

, New York, North Carolina & California. The firm handles criminal/traffic defense, family law, immigration & bankruptcy cases.

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