Commonwealth v. Rivas

We consider in this case whether, when a defendant is convicted of duplicative offenses, the lesser included offense must be vacated, even when it carries a higher penalty *185than the greater offense. The defendant was convicted by a Superior Court jury of four charges of possession of firearms and ammunition. The Commonwealth and the defendant agree that two of the four convictions on which sentence was imposed must be vacated because they are duplicative. The defendant, however, argues that the two convictions on lesser included offenses should be vacated, even though they carry higher…