Mason v. Commonwealth

Opinion of the Court by

Chief Justice MINTON.

Bernard Mason appeals as a matter of right 1 from a circuit court judgment sentencing him to twenty years’ imprisonment after a jury convicted him of one count of first-degree criminal abuse and of being a second-degree persistent felony offender (PFO 2). Mason contends that he was entitled to a directed verdict on the abuse and PFO charges and that the jury instruction on the abuse charge violated his right to a unanimous verdict under the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. We agree that both the guilt phase instructions and the…