Commonwealth v. Ware

On January 5, 1996, a confrontation occurred between the defendant and Herman Franklin at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post in the Roxbury section of Boston. During the confrontation the defendant shot and killed Franklin. The defendant was indicted for voluntary manslaughter, and a jury convicted *1015the defendant on the charge.1 The Appeals Court reversed the defendant’s conviction, holding that the judge’s confusing and erroneous instructions on voluntary manslaughter, which had been objected to by the defendant’s trial counsel, may have caused the jury to return an improper conviction.…