State v. Michael Ross II (077458) (Middlesex and Statewide)

In this appeal as of right, we consider whether the trial court’s active questioning in a first-degree murder trial constituted plain error.

A jury convicted defendant Michael Ross of committing a double murder and related offenses. The State’s theory of the ease was that defendant shot and killed the two victims because he mistook one of them for an individual who had previously threatened him *395with a firearm. At trial, defendant testified and denied involvement in the shooting.

The State presented seventeen witnesses and defendant presented three witnesses, including himself. The trial court…