Commonwealth v. Anslono

We conclude that the defendant’s conviction by a jury of larceny of a motor vehicle (G. L. c. 266, § 28) must be reversed because the judge’s instructions to the jury in many and diverse ways deprived the defendant of his constitutional right to a fair and impartial trial.

1. The Commonwealth’s case proceeded on the theory that the defendant legitimately acquired possession of the victim’s automobile for the purpose of making minor repairs, that the defendant decided to steal the car, and that the defendant thereafter completed the theft by selling the vehicle to a third person without the…