Commonwealth v. McDermott

On November 30, 1981, William F. McDermott was indicted for the armed robbery and murder of Robert Kemp. A jury found the defendant not guilty of armed robbery and guilty of murder in the first degree. He was sentenced to the statutory term of life imprisonment. Following discharge of the jury, the defendant renewed a motion for a required finding of not guilty under Mass. R. Crim. P. 25 (b) (2), 378 Mass. 896 (1979), and moved that the corn! revise or revoke the sentence. The trial judge denied the motions, and the defendant filed an appeal with this court.

We summarize the basic facts. The…