Commonwealth v. Smith

On his appeal from convictions of armed robbery and assault with intent to rob, the defendant asserts that the trial judge erred: (1) in permitting the prosecutor to question a defense witness, for the purpose of establishing bias against the government, about criminal charges pending against the witness; and, (2) in excluding a prior inconsistent statement by a victim witness about the name of the man who had robbed her. We affirm.

These, in outline, are the facts the jury could have found. At about 4 a.m. on February 22, 1986, Harriet Hartfield, with Lydia Wharton and Darryl Rowell as…