Commonwealth v. Perez

The present appeal requires us to determine the appropriate unit of prosecution for the crime of being an accessory after the fact. G. L. c. 274, § 4. The defendant was convicted on two indictments charging him with being an accessory after the fact to assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, based on his assistance to two perpetrators of a drive-by shooting in which two victims were wounded. On *187appeal, the defendant contends that the convictions, based on a single course of conduct assisting the perpetrators, are duplicative and therefore violate the prohibition against double…