Gagne v. Commonwealth

In February, 1973, the petitioner (Gagne) was convicted of murder in the second degree. We affirmed the conviction in April, 1975. Commonwealth v. Gagne, 367 Mass. 519 (1975). Gagne then sought habeas corpus relief in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, where his principal contention was that he was denied due process of law as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution because the trial judge failed to require the Commonwealth to prove malice beyond a reasonable doubt. He relied on Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U.S. 684 (1975), decided…