Commonwealth v. Courtney

The defendant was convicted on indictments charging breaking and entering and assault (G. L. c. 266, § 14), indictment no. 1769, and assault and battery, indictment no. 1771; he appeals pursuant to G. L. c. 278, §§ 33A-33G. The defendant assigns as error (among other assignments of error) an instruction to the jury in answer to a question which they put to the judge after they had retired to deliberate. We conclude that the instruction was erroneous.

*5The relevant evidence follows: The first witness was a woman, then seventy-three years old (the victim), who testified that on October 25,1974,…