Commonwealth v. Alicea

Between late afternoon of May 10, 1975, and sometime after midnight of May 11, a number of incidents, with some attendant violence, occurred at the Julian Steele Housing Project in Lowell pitting “Puerto Rican” against “American” residents or adherents. About 12:30 a.m., or later, a young woman, seventeen-year old Sylvia Cormier, standing outside 92-94 Shaughnessy Terrace, part of building 3 of the project, was killed by a bullet to the head fired from a .22 caliber gun. The defendant Alicea was indicted for the murder of Cormier and also for possession of a firearm without license and for…