Commonwealth v. Maldonado

A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant of murder in the first degree on the theories of deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty, in violation of G. L. c. 265, § 1, for the killing of Mark Parilla.1 The defendant raises four issues on appeal. First, he argues that his right to a public trial under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution was violated by what he characterizes as a closure of the court room arising from the judge’s order to require all spectators attending the trial to sign in and show identification. Second, he contends that the judge erred…