Commonwealth v. Bryer

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• concluding that prosecutorial comment on missing witness was permissible in prosecution for operating under the influence of intoxicating liquor where witness may have been able to corroborate defendant’s testimony concerning amount of alcohol defendant had consumed
• missing witness instruction proper where defendant was sole witness for the defense, and missing witness could have provided partial corroboration of defendant’s version of events
• unsteadiness and odor of alcohol are factors that support inference of diminished capacity to operate safely due to intoxication
• “We will not disturb a decision to deny a continuance unless it is shown to be arbitrary”
• in denying request for continuance judge could consider, among other matters, that relatively simple case had been pending too long
• “We are sensitive to references to a defendant’s failure to adduce evidence on his behalf because of the necessity to avoid shifting the burden of proof to the defendant”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).