Commonwealth v. Lacoy

After a jury trial, the defendant, John Lacoy, was convicted of murder in the second degree. See G. L. c. 265, § 1. On appeal, he contends that (1) the Commonwealth’s exercise of two of its peremptory challenges violated art. 12 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights and the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution; (2) trial counsel was ineffective; (3) prior bad acts were admitted in error; and (4) the judge erred by declining to instruct the jury on the sudden combat theory of voluntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter. We affirm.

Background. We recite the…