Commonwealth v. Peters

A jury in the Superior Court found the defendant guilty on twenty indictments charging him with the sexual abuse of his stepdaughter.1 The charges stemmed from accusations by the stepdaughter that he had sexually assaulted her for six years (starting when she was ten years old), when the defendant lived with her and her mother at their various homes in Douglas, Bellingham, and Milford.

Represented by new counsel, the defendant appealed from his convictions to the Appeals Court, asserting that his motion for a required finding of not guilty should have been allowed as to several of the charges…