Commonwealth v. Javier

**269On January 10, 2009, Robert Gonzalez was shot and killed while he was sitting in his parked Dodge Caravan minivan on a side street in Lawrence. In September 2013, the defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree, as a joint venturer, on a theory of deliberate premeditation in the shooting.1

In this direct appeal, the defendant primarily challenges the sufficiency of the evidence that he was present at the scene, knowingly participated in the shooting, and had the mental state necessary to the offense. He argues also that the trial judge abused her discretion in allowing the…