Commonwealth v. Murphy

The defendants, Murphy and Tilley, after trial subject to G. L. c. 278, §§ 33A-33G, were found guilty by the trial judge sitting without a jury on separate indictments of burning a dwelling house. G. L. c. 266, § 1. Each defendant appeals, and argues only an assignment of error based on the trial court’s denial of his motion for judgment of acquittal. Each contends that the Commonwealth failed to introduce a sufficient amount of evidence to warrant a finding of guilty. Therefore, we review the evidence in detail.

There was testimony that on November 7, 1970, at about 7:30 p.m., Michael D.…