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Commonwealth v. Harris

Citations

  • 464 Mass. 425
  • 983 N.E.2d 695
  • 2013 WL 491529
  • 2013 Mass. LEXIS 28

How courts have described this case

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

  • generally \conduct involving only the use of nonthreatening words will not be sufficient to qualify a defendant as a first aggressor\
  • generally “conduct involving only the use of nonthreatening words will not be sufficient to qualify a defendant as a first aggressor”
  • overt gesture in combination with statement from victim sufficient to put question of self-defense to jury
  • generally \conduct involving only the use of nonthreatening words will not be sufficient to qualify a defendant as a first aggressor\
  • no curative instruction required where, evaluating jury instructions as whole, no jury could have improperly concluded Commonwealth was relieved of burden of proof
  • court declined to exercise its extraordinary authority to set aside murder verdict despite evidence that victim had reached for firearm, had threatened to shoot defendant, and had grabbed defendant by throat

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: Ireland

Read full opinion on CourtListener

Cited by

9 cases in this archive cite this case.

Cites

26 cases in this archive are cited by this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

Other cases with this name

Sourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.