Commonwealth v. Webb (Lawyers Weekly No. 10-074-14)
NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound volumes of the Official Reports.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‑11291 COMMONWEALTH vs. DERREL C. WEBB. Plymouth. February 7, 2014. ‑ April 29, 2014. Present: Ireland, C.J., Spina, Botsford, Gants, & Lenk, JJ. Homicide. Firearms. Evidence, Bias, Credibility of witness. Witness, Bias, Credibility, Immunity. Practice, Criminal, Capital case, Agreement between prosecutor and witness, Promise by prosecutor, Immunity from prosecution, Argument by prosecutor, Instructions to jury. Indictments found and returned in the Superior Court Department on March 12, 2010. The cases were tried before Richard J. Chin, J. David Keighley for the defendant. Audrey Anderson, Assistant District Attorney, for the Commonwealth. IRELAND, C.J. On May 23, 2012, a jury convicted the defendant, Derrel C. Webb, of murder in the first degree on the theories of deliberate premeditation and extreme atrocity or cruelty, and of unlawful possession of a firearm. Represented by new counsel on appeal, the defendant argues that a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice arose both from the manner in which the judge admitted witness testimony given pursuant to grants of immunity and plea agreements, and from improper vouching by the prosecutor during her closing argument. We affirm the defendant’s convictions and discern no basis to exercise our authority pursuant to G. L. c. 278, § 33E. 1. Background. Based on the Commonwealth’s evidence, the jury could have found the following facts. On July 28, 2008, at approximately 11:15 P.M., the victim and his older brother, Anthony, returned home to their apartment in Brockton. The boys went upstairs to the second floor. Shortly thereafter, their mother heard some “commotion” and ran upstairs. Anthony screamed that the victim had been shot. The victim’s mother found the victim lying on the floor. There was blood on the back of his head, and he was making gurgling sounds. She started cardiopulmonary resuscitation and told Anthony to telephone 911. Emergency medical technicians (EMTs) arrived and transported the victim to a nearby hospital. From there, he was transported by flight to a hospital in Boston where soon thereafter, in the early morning of July 29, he died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head, with skull perforation and brain penetration. The victim was fifteen years of age. Brockton police officers arrived at the victim’s home before the EMTs had left with him. In the room in which the victim […]