Commonwealth v. Druce

Based on the brutal strangulation of a fellow inmate, the defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree by reason of deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty. The defendant’s pro se motion for a new trial, in which he asserted that his trial counsel furnished him with constitutionally ineffective representation, was denied by the trial judge without an evidentiary hearing. Represented by present appellate counsel, the defendant filed a motion for reconsideration, which the judge also denied. The defendant appeals from his conviction and from the denial of these…