Commonwealth v. Dara Poum

Summary

The court affirmed the defendant's two felony-murder convictions, holding that the evidence did not warrant a sudden-combat instruction and that the prosecutor's references to the children and their relationships were permissible. It rejected challenges to the sentencing procedure and found no substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice from counsel's failure to present additional mitigating evidence. The court vacated the duplicative armed-home-invasion conviction and the firearm conviction because the jury was not instructed, and the Commonwealth presented no evidence, concerning the absence of a license, remanding the firearm charge for further proceedings.