Snyder v. Massachusetts

The petitioner and two others were charged with murder committed^ in an attempt to rob a gasoline station. The petitioner and one of his co-defendants were tried together; the third testified for the Commonwealth.

There is no dispute that when the three embarked on their evil enterprise all were armed, and it is not denied that they approached the station with intent to commit either larceny or robbery; but the record exhibits grave contradictions as to which of them fired the fatal shot, and as to the petitioner’s abandonment of the common-plan before the shot was fired. The situation and…