Commonwealth v. Fortes

Early one evening in February, 1992, the defendant and a companion, Westgate, were out walking in New Bedford “seeing what [they] could get into.” They saw a sixty-five year old woman, Lucille Labens, bringing out her household trash and decided to steal her purse, which hung by a strap from her left arm. Westgate walked up behind Mrs. Labens, grabbed the purse strap, and attempted to slide it off her *215arm.1 Mrs. Labens caught the strap in her hand and a brief struggle ensued, during which Westgate pushed or pulled her to the pavement, seriously injuring her knee. She continued to hold on, and…