Commonwealth v. Cassesso

The defendants were found guilty of being accessories before the fact to murder. The jury did not recommend that sentences of death be not imposed (G. L. c. 265, § 2), and the defendants were sentenced to death as the statute directed. Their appeals to this court were unsuccessful, but as an aftermath of Furman v. Georgia, 408 U. S. 238 (1972), their sentences were vacated as to the death penalty by the Supreme Court of the United States. See Commonwealth v. French, 357 Mass. 356 (1970), and Commonwealth v. Cassesso, 360 Mass. 570 (1971), each vacated as to the death penalty sub nom. Limone…