Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1979

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Willie R. Latimore's conviction of murder in the first degree for fatally stabbing Philip Poirier during a fight at a Taunton tavern. The court held that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in excluding a cross-examination question suggesting the victim had 'a substantial…

The court held that Massachusetts could exercise personal jurisdiction over the Texas defendant because the defendant deliberately conducted substantial, sustained business with Massachusetts-based plaintiffs and the claims arose at least in part from that activity.

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the denials of the defendants' motions for directed verdicts, concluding the evidence permitted the jury to find each of the three black defendants guilty of first-degree murder of Andrew Puopolo on a joint-enterprise theory with deliberate premeditation.