Commonwealth v. Fisher

Summary

The court affirmed the defendant's convictions, holding that his statements during the restaurant-parking-lot encounter were not obtained in custodial interrogation, the challenged jurors were properly excused for comprehension difficulties, and the evidence was sufficient to support felony-murder liability. The court found that admitting a police officer's identification of the defendant in surveillance video was error, but concluded that the error was harmless because the jury could independently compare the video and photographs, the remaining evidence was strong, and the judge gave forceful limiting instructions. The court also rejected challenges to the felony-murder instructions and the prosecutor's closing argument and found no basis for relief under its extraordinary-review authority.