Commonwealth v. Allen

The defendant was convicted by a jury on indictments charging him with armed robbery and assault by means of a dangerous weapon. The defendant raises one issue on appeal; namely, that the judge improperly excluded a line of questioning by which defense counsel intended to show bias of the complaining witness.

At trial, the Commonwealth presented the following evidence. On October 6, 1987, the victim, a twenty-five year old woman, left her home with her friend, Jeannine, to look for Jeannine’s boyfriend, Nicholas. They visited several bars where they remained for short periods of time. At…