Commonwealth v. Teixeira

The defendant was convicted by a District Court jury of malicious destruction of property with a value less than $250, G. L. c. 266, § 127,1 and intimidation of a witness, G. L. *102c. 268, § 13B(1). On appeal, he claims that his motion for a mistrial and his motion to dismiss the charges were improperly denied.

Background. Based on the evidence presented by the Commonwealth at trial, the jury could have found as follows. At approximately 7:00 p.m. on December 23, 2006, the victim, who had known the defendant for several months, picked him up at his home in Cambridge. They drove around for a…