Commonwealth v. Peloquin

The single issue on appeal from the denial of the defendant’s motion for a new trial pursuant to Mass. R. Crim. R 30(a) and (b) is whether the defendant’s trial counsel, who was also his counsel on the direct appeal, provided ineffective assistance to the defendant by failing to object to the judge’s *481instructions, and by failing to request a Castle law instruction,1 see G. L. c. 278, § 8A.2 We reverse.

A statement of material facts appears in our decision on the defendant’s direct appeal, see Commonwealth v. Peloquin, 30 Mass. App. Ct. 960, 960-961 (1991). In brief, the defendant shot and…