Commonwealth v. Companonio

This appeal is decided some eighteen years after *40the defendant’s conviction of murder in the first degree. The lengthy procedural history of the appeal that explains the delay is as follows. On April 23,1987, a Superior Court jury convicted the defendant of murder in the first degree.1 Almost five years later, on January 31, 1992, the defendant, represented by new counsel, filed a motion for a new trial in this court that was remanded to the Superior Court for disposition. On June 29, 1993, without conducting an evidentiary hearing, the trial judge allowed the defendant’s motion on the basis…