Commonwealth v. Anderson

Following a jury trial, the defendant advances a series of issues in this appeal from his convictions on mayhem, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, and assault and battery (two counts).1 One issue involves an intertwined claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel and judicial error, i.e., that trial counsel should have requested an intoxication instruction and that, even though not so requested, the trial judge had an independent responsibility to give sua sponte an intoxication instruction in connection with the ability to form specific intent to commit mayhem. The six…