Commonwealth v. Skinner

On February 4, 1986, the defendant, Michael F. Skinner, was found guilty by a jury of both murder in the first degree and unlawfully carrying a firearm. He timely appealed from the murder conviction, citing as error the trial judge’s supplemental instruction in response to a jury question regarding deliberate premeditation.

Represented by new counsel, Skinner filed a motion for a new trial in this court, raising the same error as that noted in his appeal, as well as claiming that he had been denied effective assistance of counsel at trial. We remanded that motion and stayed the appeal pending…