Stewart v. Coalter

With respect, I dissent. I agree with the district court that the evidence was not adequate for a jury to find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Stewart was involved in a joint venture to commit murder. See Stewart v. Coalter, 855 F.Supp. 464 (D.Mass.1994). Unlike the majority, I am “loathe to stack inference upon inference in order to uphold the jury’s verdict.” United States v. Valerio, 48 F.3d 58, 64 (1st Cir.1995) (citing Ingram v. United States, 360 U.S. 672, 680, 79 S.Ct. 1314, 1320, 3 L.Ed.2d 1503 (1959)).

For the jury to return a verdict of second-degree murder, it had to find that Good…