Commonwealth v. Hart

BECK, Judge:

This appeal involves the question of the validity of a progression charge in a homicide case; i.e., whether the trial court may instruct the jury not to consider whether the defendant is guilty of voluntary manslaughter until after it has considered whether the defendant is not guilty of murder. Appellant contends that his counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the progression charge. We find that the the court’s instruction was proper and that counsel provided effective representation.

I

On August 11, 1975, Albert Dixon, an Exxon employee, was fatally wounded during an…