Commonwealth v. Stirling

The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree of Samuel Washington committed on January 30, 1965, in Malden. The jury recommended that the death sentence be not imposed. The case is before us on the defendant’s appeal pursuant to Gr. L. c. 278, §§ 33A-33Gr, as amended, accompanied by a summary of the record, a transcript of the evidence, and assignments of error. The evidence is summarized as follows.

On Friday, January 29,1965, the defendant purchased by check at a store in Farmington, Maine, where he lived, a .22 calibre Astra semi-automatic pistol, serial No. 116,964 (the Astra)…