Commonwealth v. McLaughlin

In October, 1965, the defendant was tried and found guilty by a jury on an indictment charging him with the murder in the first degree of one William J. Sheridan on March 15, 1964. The jury made no recommendation that the otherwise mandatory sentence of death be not imposed and the defendant was therefore sentenced to death. G. L. c. 265, § 2, as appearing in St. 1951, c. 203. The sentence of death has not been executed, nor has it been vacated pursuant to the decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238 (1972). The case came before this court on direct appellate review and the judgment was…