Legal Opinion

Commonwealth v. Parsons

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

Decided May 16, 1907PublishedCited by 17 opinions

Indtctment found and returned.on September 3, 1906, for murder in the second degree, charging that the defendant on July 24,1906, at Somerville “did assault and beat George W. Gilmore with intent to murder him by shooting him in the body with a gun loaded with powder and ball, and by such assault and beating did kill and murder the said George W. Gilmore.”

Read the full summary

Indtctment found and returned.on September 3, 1906, for murder in the second degree, charging that the defendant on July 24,1906, at Somerville “did assault and beat George W. Gilmore with intent to murder him by shooting him in the body with a gun loaded with powder and ball, and by such assault and beating did kill and murder the said George W. Gilmore.” In the Superior Court the defendant was tried before Bell, J. The government introduced evidence that Gilmore, who had been for some time a lodger in the defendant’s family and had left them about the first of June, went to the defendant’s…

1Opinion of the CourtSheldon, J.

The evidence as to the previous burglaries, or attempted burglaries, in the defendant’s house within a year before the commission of the homicide, and in Lindley’s house four years before that time, was rightly excluded. It could have no proper tendency to show any probability of another burglary being committed in the defendant’s house at the time in question. It had no legitimate bearing upon any issue involved in the case. Commonwealth v. Abbott, 130 Mass. 472. Even if it could have been considered upon the question of the defendant’s state of mind at the time of the homicide, evidence of…

2Cases cited20 opinions

  1. Commonwealth v. TrefethenMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1892
  2. Commonwealth v. PierceMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1884
  3. Commonwealth v. ChanceMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1899
  4. Choice v. StateSupreme Court of Georgia · 1860
  5. Commonwealth v. AbbottMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1881

15 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.

3Cited by17 opinions

  1. Commonwealth v. WelanskyMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1944
  2. Commonwealth v. RussMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1919
  3. Commonwealth v. JohnsonMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1978
  4. Commonwealth v. FarrellMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1948
  5. Commonwealth v. GilMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1984

12 more not listed; retrieve them via the Exa API.

Showing a preview — retrieve the full document via the Exa API.

Powered by the Exa API