Commonwealth v. Asher (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-091-15)
9OTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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 SJC-11663 COMMONWEALTH vs. JEFFREY ASHER. Hampden. February 4, 2015. – June 9, 2015. Present: Gants, C.J., Spina, Cordy, Botsford, Duffly, Lenk, & Hines, JJ. Assault and Battery by Means of a Dangerous Weapon. Assault and Battery. Police Officer. Threshold Police Inquiry. Self-Defense. Evidence, Self-defense. Defense of Others. Practice, Criminal, Instructions to jury. Complaint received and sworn to in the Holyoke Division of the District Court Department on October 14, 2010. The case was tried before Maureen E. Walsh, J. The Supreme Judicial Court on its own initiative transferred the case from the Appeals Court. Andrew J. Gambaccini for the defendant. Elizabeth Dunphy Farris, Assistant District Attorney (Katherine E. McMahon, Assistant District Attorney, with her) for the Commonwealth. BOTSFORD, J. This case concerns the beating of an unarmed civilian by the defendant Jeffrey Asher, a police officer who responded to another officer’s request for assistance with a traffic stop in Springfield. The defendant was charged with assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon in violation of G. L. c. 265, § 15A (b), and assault and battery in violation of G. L. c. 265, § 13A (a). At trial, the defendant contended, and presented evidence seeking to show, that the beating was justified based on the need for self-defense and defense of others present. The jury found him guilty of both charges. We affirm the convictions. Background. 1. Facts. Based on the evidence presented at trial, the jury could have found the following. On the evening of November 27, 2009, Officer Michael Sedergren and Lieutenant John Bobianski of the Springfield police department were on patrol in a cruiser when they observed a black Honda Civic automobile dragging its muffler and causing sparks to fly behind it. The officers stopped the vehicle, and Bobianski spoke to the driver, Malika Barnett. While Bobianski was speaking to Barnett, Sedergren observed Barnett’s companion, Melvin Jones, who was the sole passenger in the vehicle (and the victim in this case), slide toward the floor in the right front passenger’s seat and stuff something in his waistband. Concerned that the victim could be hiding a weapon or other contraband, Sedergren requested assistance over the police radio from Officer Theodore Truoiolo and the defendant, who were together on patrol that night in a separate vehicle. Once Truoiolo and […]