Commonwealth v. Spear

At about 7:30 p.m. on April 25, 1972, a man, identified later as Willie Daniel, walked into a barber shop on Northampton Street in Boston. He said, “Help me. I’ve been shot. I don’t want to die,” and fell to the floor. The barber telephoned the police and, as he was doing so, Daniel staggered to his feet and out the door. He fell again on the sidewalk a few feet from the entrance to the barber shop. In about ten minutes the police came; they found Daniel lying on the sidewalk. An officer knelt down beside him and asked what had happened. He grabbed the officer’s arm and said, “Please,…