Commonwealth v. Sevieri

As will be seen from the evidence set out below, there is no real dispute that on November 6, 1983, about 3:00 a.m., the defendant entered the victim’s dormitory apartment and assaulted and beat her. There are two primary issues on the defendant’s appeal from his conviction of assault with intent to rape: (1) the denial of his motion for a required finding of not guilty, Mass.R.Crim.P. 25(a), 378 Mass. 896 (1979); and (2) the prosecutor’s closing argument. Although we conclude that the evidence was sufficient to put the question of the defendant’s intent to the jury, we reverse the conviction…