Commonwealth v. Daniels

A Superior Court jury convicted the defendant of murder in the first degree on a theory of felony-murder. G. L. c. 265, § 1. The principal issue on appeal is whether a judge in the Superior Court, who had presided at trial, erred in denying the defendant’s request for posttrial discovery. The request concerned newly discovered information that defense counsel asserted cast serious doubt on the credibility of the identification of the defendant made by the sole eyewitness. The reliability of that testimony is central because, as the trial judge noted in a different ruling, the “Commonwealth’s…