Commonwealth v. Lopez

The defendant was indicted on charges of murder in the first degree and unarmed robbery. After the trial court allowed a motion to dismiss so much of the murder indictment as was grounded on a theory of felony-murder, the Commonwealth appealed. We reversed that order, see Commonwealth v. Lopez, 80 Mass. App. Ct. 390 (2011) (Lopez I), and reinstated the indictment. An additional indictment was then brought against the defendant, charging manslaughter. On remand, after a jury trial, the defendant was acquitted of felony-murder, and was convicted of involuntary manslaughter on a theory of wanton…