Commonwealth v. Simmons

Since no witnesses other than the victim observed the assault and battery for which the defendant Simmons was indicted, the focus of his trial was on the credibility of the victim. In this appeal from his conviction, the defendant claims error in the exclusion of certain questions designed to test the credibility of the complaining witness, a patient in a hospital where Simmons was employed as a nurse’s aide. Other assignments of error involve jury instructions.

According to the Commonwealth’s evidence, the unlawful touchings which Simmons inflicted on the patient in his care involved…