Commonwealth v. Petetabella

In the early morning hours of December 28, 1963,1 Jean Thibeault was shot and killed during a robbery of the bar he owned in Fall River. The defendant and two other men2 were convicted of his murder and other offenses3 on July 2, 1964. On his conviction of murder in the first degree, the jury recommended that the death penalty, then in effect, not be imposed, and the defendant was sentenced to life in prison.4 He did not appeal. Nearly forty-four years later, on May 21, 2008, he filed *179a motion for new trial under Mass. R. Crim. R 30 (b), as appearing in 435 Mass. 1501 (2001). After an…