Commonwealth v. Vazquez

The defendant appeals seven convictions of murder in the second degree on seven indictments which charged murder in the first degree, 1 and a conviction of arson. 2 The defendant claims error in (1) the denial of his motion to suppress; (2) the failure of the judge to instruct the jury on the issue of voluntariness; (3) the exclusion of testimony by a defense psychiatrist as to whether the defendant’s statements to a fellow inmate were the product of a rational mind; and (4) the admission of testimony by the Commonwealth’s psychiatrist on the issue of criminal responsibility. We conclude that…