Commonwealth v. Lawrence

On December 16, 1986, a jury convicted the defendant, Frank Lawrence, of murder in the first degree of a sixteen year old girl (victim). The defendant was also convicted of the involuntary manslaughter of the twenty-seven week old male fetus that the victim was carrying. He was sentenced to the mandatory life sentence on the murder conviction and to a term of from eight to ten years on the involuntary manslaughter conviction to be served from and after the life sentence.

In challenging his convictions,1 the defendant contends that there was error in the denial of his motion to dismiss the *380indic…