Simpson v. Matesanz

LYNCH, Circuit Judge.

William H. Simpson was convicted in Massachusetts state court in 1974 of the murder of Thomas Morris, who was stabbed to death by Simpson’s associate while Simpson beat Morris with a baseball bat and hammer. Simpson is serving a life sentence without parole.

At Simpson’s trial, the trial judge instructed the jury, in accord with longstanding tradition, that absence of reasonable doubt meant the jurors must be sure to a “moral certainty.” The judge defined moral certainty as the same degree of certainty jurors would want in making decisions of importance in their own lives.…