Commonwealth v. Williams

In his trial on an indictment charging murder in the first degree in the death of his wife, Regina Williams, by strangulation, the defendant’s main defenses were based on his mental condition. On appeal from his conviction 2 of murder in the second degree, he claims that he was denied effective assistance of counsel because his trial attorney (1) elicited from his own witness, Reverend Samuel Hogan, inadmissible evidence which tended to show a specific intent to kill, and (2) failed to object to equally prejudicial evidence from a rebuttal witness of the Commonwealth, Dr. Jorge Veliz. We…