Commonwealth v. Herd

On May 12, 1988, the defendant killed three year old Melvyn McKiver. A medical examiner testified that Melvyn received at least 277 blunt force injuries from whippings to most of his body and blows to his head and that Melvyn died from bleeding around and swelling of his brain, A jury returned a verdict of guilty of manslaughter on an indictment charging him with murder in the first degree. The defendant appeals challenging, in various respects, the judge’s jury instructions on the issue of the defendant’s criminal responsibility. We transferred the defendant’s appeal here on our own motion.…