Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Commonwealth v. Gibson
August 10, 2023
Summary
The court affirmed the defendant’s convictions for murder in the first degree, home invasion, and armed assault with intent to rob, and affirmed the denial of his motion for a new trial. It vacated the convictions for armed assault in a dwelling and for unlawful firearm possession, concluding that the former was duplicative of the felony-murder conviction and the latter was entered without constitutionally required jury instructions and supporting evidence concerning licensure. The court rejected the ineffective-assistance, merger, joint-venture, general-verdict, and extraordinary-review claims.