Commonwealth v. Padgett

What began on the morning of February 1, 1994, as a series of house breaks rapidly escalated into far more serious crimes and culminated in the death of the police chief of Paxton. Charged as a joint venturer with two other men, Michael Souza and James Richards, the defendant was convicted of second degree murder, based on a theory of felony-murder, and of ten other offenses.1 Although the defendant claims sixteen errors on appeal, his primary contentions are (1) there was insufficient evidence to find him a joint venturer in the gun-related charges; (2) the homicide was not the natural and…