Commonwealth v. Costa

At a trial subject to G. L. c. 278, §§ 33A-33G, Costa was found guilty by a jury on two indictments charging him with murder in the first degree of Patricia H. Walsh and Mary Ann Wysocki. The jury recommended that the death penalty not be imposed. The cases are before us on Costa’s appeals with summaries of the record, a transcript of the evidence, and assignments of error.

The argued assignments of error relate to the denial of Costa’s motions for directed verdicts addressed to both indictments, the refusal of the trial judge to charge the jury that they were warranted in returning verdicts…