Commonwealth v. Gallagher

A jury in the Superior Court convicted the defendant of murder in the first degree by reason of extreme atrocity or cruelty. On appeal, the defendant claims error in: (1) the denial of a pretrial voir dire on the voluntariness of statements made by him to three friends and the admission of the statements in evidence; (2) the admission of evidence of his prior convictions; (3) the denial of a mistrial after a witness stated before the jury that the defendant was in jail; (4) the denial of his request to make an unsworn statement to the jury; (5) the admission in evidence of photographs of the…