Appeals panel hears challenge to prosecutor burden‑shifting and jury instructions in Lesage retrial

Appeals Court justices heard oral argument in Commonwealth v. Claude Amiee Le Sage over whether trial‑level errors — including a court‑invited prosecution response and missing‑witness instructions — unfairly tipped the scales at retrial.

Defense counsel Lindsay Kanter told the three‑judge panel that multiple procedural failures at the trial “merit reversal,” focusing on what she called an “improper and prejudicial burden shifting” and the trial court’s missing‑witness instruction. She said the judge had “sua sponte ... invite[d] the prosecutor to burden shift” and that the resulting instructions and argument “put a thumb on the scale.”

Kanter argued the combination of the court’s conduct and the prosecutor’s closing argument undermined the presumption of innocence…