Commonwealth v. Davis

The defendant was tried by a jury and convicted of unarmed robbery (G. L. c. 265, § 19) of seventeen dollars from the person of one Richard Lento. He has assigned as error the refusal of the judge to direct a verdict of not guilty on so much of the indictment as charged assault with intent to rob and robbery, on the ground that the Commonwealth’s evidence disclosed, at most, larceny from the person.

The jury heard testimony from which it could have been found that Lento, his brother, and two friends had been walking together side by side through the Boston Common on the evening of August 12,…