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Appeals court hears challenge to jury instructions and sentencing in Morales homicide case
Summary
The Massachusetts Appeals Court heard arguments in Commonwealth v. Morales over whether jury instructions on "reasonable provocation" and the judge's refusal to reduce a murder verdict to manslaughter were legally defective; the panel took the case under advisement after oral argument.
The Massachusetts Appeals Court heard argument Jan. 8 in Commonwealth v. Morales, Docket No. 24-P-332, on whether trial jury instructions about "reasonable provocation" and the trial judge’s refusal to reduce a murder verdict to manslaughter were erroneous and whether sentencing materials outside the trial record could support post-trial relief.
The case concerns Juan Luis Morales, who was convicted after an altercation in which the decedent, Lee Daniels, approached Morales and allegedly threatened to kill him. Defense counsel John Ramer argued the jury instruction that "mere words do not ordinarily by themselves constitute reasonable provocation" left jurors without guidance on when a death threat could qualify as…
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