Commonwealth v. Goddard

Lowy, J,

The jury convicted the defendant, William Goddard, of murder in the first degree on the theory of deliberate premeditation, On appeal, the defendant argues that (1) the trial judge erred by permitting the Commonwealth’s expert witness to testify that the defendant had premeditated the killing; (2) the same expert was impermissibly permitted to state the basis of her opinion on direct examination; and (3) the prosecutor made statements not supported by evidence during closing arguments. We affirm the convictions and decline to grant relief under G. L. c. 278, § 33E.

1. Background. We…