Commonwealth v. Robidoux

Following a purported revelation from God in early March, 1999, the defendant, Jacques Robidoux, and his wife, Karen, restricted their ten month old son’s diet to breast milk and water, and deprived him of solid food. Samuel Robidoux died in late April, 1999, within days of his first birthday, from malnutrition caused by starvation. On June 14, 2002, after a nine-day trial, a jury found Robidoux guilty of murder in the first degree by reason of extreme atrocity or cruelty.

On appeal from his conviction and from the denial of his motions for a new trial, Robidoux claims that (1) he was denied…