Commonwealth v. McNeal

OPINION OF THE COURT

Petitioner’s first three contentions are that his trial counsel was ineffective for (1) failing to attempt to establish that petitioner’s conduct was not the legal cause of death; (2) failing to explore the existence of a second conspiracy to which petitioner was not a party and failing to request an instruction to that effect; (3) failing to establish that the felony-murder doctrine was not applicable and failing to request an instruction to that effect. These three contentions bear directly on the issue of petitioner’s liability as a co-conspirator. Since this issue was…