Commonwealth v. Iacoviello (and three companion cases) (Lawyers Weekly No. 11-125-16)

OTICE:  All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.  If you find a typographical error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1 Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us   13-P-1818                                       Appeals Court   COMMONWEALTH  vs.  ROBERT IACOVIELLO (and three companion cases[1]).     No. 13-P-1818.   Suffolk.     April 8, 2016. – September 15, 2016.   Present:  Cypher, Katzmann, & Massing, JJ.     Homicide.  Practice, Criminal, Instructions to jury.  Self-Defense.  Wanton or Reckless Conduct.  Intoxication. Evidence, Prior violent conduct.  Accessory and Principal.       Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on December 20, 2007.   The cases were tried before Patrick F. Brady, J., and a motion for a new trial, filed on May 6, 2014, was heard by him.     Sara A. Laroche (Patricia L. Garin with her) for Robert Iacoviello. Willie J. Davis for James Heang. Cailin M. Campbell, Assistant District Attorney (Edmond J. Zabin, Assistant District Attorney, with her) for the Commonwealth.     CYPHER, J.  In the early morning hours of September 29, 2007, two groups converged in the dark near a baseball field behind Revere High School.  One group consisted primarily of off-duty Revere police officers dressed in civilian clothes.  The other group consisted of four local young men who were either members of or affiliated with a gang.  Both groups had been drinking for much of the night.  Heated, gang-related words were exchanged.  Guns were fired from both sides.  One person, off-duty Revere police Officer Daniel Talbot, was fatally wounded.  A second person, defendant Robert Iacoviello, was charged with murder in the first degree, carrying a firearm without a license, and possession of a firearm without a firearm identification card.  A third person, defendant James Heang, who had not been present during the fateful encounter, was charged with being an accessory after the fact in aid of Iacoviello and carrying a firearm without a license. In a joint trial, a jury found Iacoviello guilty of murder in the second degree, G. L. c. 265, § 1, and carrying a firearm without a license, G. L. c. 269, § 10(a).[2]  The jury found Heang not guilty of carrying a firearm without a license, G. L. c. 269, § 10(a), but guilty of being an accessory after the fact, G. L. c. 274, § 4.  The defendants appeal, raising issues they preserved during the proceedings below.  Iacoviello primarily argues that the trial judge erred by declining to instruct the jury on self-defense, voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter.  Heang primarily argues that the trial judge erred by prohibiting […]

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