Commonwealth v. Pagan

On July 24, 2007, a jury convicted the defendant, Juan Pagan, of murder in the first degree on the theory of deliberate premeditation. At trial, there was no dispute that the defendant, when he was sixteen years of age, stabbed Alex Castro Santos (victim) to death. His defense was that he was not guilty of murder because he had acted in self-defense and with a mental impairment, namely attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression, which, when viewed in the context of his age, caused him to act reflexively and instinctively. One month following his conviction, the defendant…