Commonwealth v. Gonzalez
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree of a theory of extreme atrocity or cruelty. Defendant appealed, raising five allegations of error. The Supreme Judicial Court rejected the first four of Defendant’s claims but agreed with the fifth, holding that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury that they may consider Defendant’s consumption of alcohol in determining whether Defendant acted in a cruel or atrocious manner in causing the victim’s death, and the error created a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice. Accordingly, the Court vacated Defendant’s conviction and remanded for further proceedings.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.