Commonwealth v. Gonzalez

On December 8, 1984, two Lowell police officers, Hilda Hernandez and Michael Miles, responded to a complaint of a domestic disturbance. It is not necessary to describe the fiery scene (on the government’s evidence) that the officers came upon, and by which they were soon enveloped. The relevant consequence, for our purposes, was that the defendant Gonzalez was charged with assault and battery upon Officer Hernandez. A jury of six found the defendant guilty. The principal ground of the defendant’s appeal is that her efforts to establish bias on the part of a police witness were improperly…