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Appeals court hears challenges to malice and larceny instructions in Hancock case
Summary
The court considered whether evidence supported a malicious-destruction conviction after the defendant kicked in a residence door and whether a mistaken-belief larceny instruction was warranted without pretrial notice under Rule 14.
The Massachusetts Appeals Court heard argument in the appeal of Theodore Hancock’s convictions, focusing on whether evidence supported the malicious-destruction-of-property instruction and whether the trial court erred by not giving an "honest but mistaken belief" larceny instruction.
Defense counsel David Osborne told the panel that the single act of kicking a door to retrieve property (a television set) did not show the statutorily required malice — a state of mind of cruelty, hostility or revenge. "Even accepting all the inferences in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the…
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