Commonwealth v. Laws

OPINION

ROBERTS, Justice.

At about 11:30 p. m., March 2, 1974, an altercation broke out between two rival gangs after members of one gang *322arrived at a party attended by members of the other. During the fighting which followed John Alicea received a fatal knife wound in the chest. Appellant, Whalen Laws, Jr., was charged with the murder. Following a jury trial, appellant was convicted of murder of the second degree. Post-verdict motions were denied, and appellant was sentenced to seven to twenty years imprisonment. In this appeal,1 appellant contends that the trial court, by its questioning of a…