Commonwealth v. Meech

The defendant James K. Meech did not deny that he killed Edward Gerke in a Lowell rooming house in the early evening of January 7, 1978, but he put in issue his criminal responsibility at the time. A jury found him guilty of murder in the first degree, as well as assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He brings his appeal pursuant to G. L. c. 278, §§ 33A-33G, and Mass. R. A. P. 1B inserted by 378 Mass. 924 (effective July 1, 1979), 1 claiming that the judge erred in excluding the grand jury testimony of a witness who died before trial, and in permitting repeated references by…