Commonwealth v. Toolan
Annotate this Case
The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Defendant's convictions of murder in the first degree and assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon in the stabbing death of his former girlfriend, holding that there was no error warranting a new trial and no reason for the Court to exercise its extraordinary authority under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 278, 33E.
Specifically, the Supreme Judicial Court held (1) an expert's brief testimony concerning the legal definition of a mental disease or defect did not rise to the level of a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice; (2) the trial judge did not abuse his discretion by not providing the jury a supplemental instruction distinguishing between a lack of criminal responsibility and diminished capacity; (3) there was no error in the instruction on the inference of an intent to kill that the jury could draw from the use of a dangerous weapon; and (4) the judge did not err in declining to instruct the jury to consider whether Defendant was incapable of resisting the urge to consume drugs or alcohol.
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.