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Dismissal Denied
Davis argued that he’d clearly shown premeditation and malice on the part of the defendant. The Judge agreed.
Penn noted that Ernest Dennis testified he took Carter from the party, that Carter armed himself with a deadly weapon. Then, said Penn, “for reasons known to him” Dennis took the defendant back to the vicinity of the crime where Carter lay in wait over the fence and “coldbloodedly, according to the Commonwealth’s evidence, killed those two people.”
Pehn acknowledged that evidence indicated the defendant was "a little upset” because his girlfriend had gone off with another man. From this evidence, the Judge continued, the court could not infer Carter acted in the heat of passion but “rather the reverse of that.”
After Judge Penn’s denial of the motion to dismiss, the jury trooped back into the courtroom to hear th' lone defense witness.
Under Biddle’s questioning, Ian Pryde reported that Carter had worked for him off and on over three years and that he’d had no trouble with the defendant. “He always did a good day’s work . . . got along well with everybody ... I’d hire him again,” said Pryde.
In Davis’s cross examination, Pyrde acknowledged that he knew nothing of the defendants background or any police record he may have had.
As Pryde stepped down from the witness stand, the defense rested. Judge Penn retired to his chambers with the three attornies to discuss instructions to the jury. Witnesses who’d been awaiting call down in the hallway came upstairs to sit in the courtroom.
When Judge Penn returned to the bench, he told the jury that Carter’s failure to testify on his own behalf could not have a bearing on their determinations. He defined first degree murder as that committed willfully, deliberately with premeditation and-- malice aforethought. He informed the jury that first degree murder is punishable with a sentence of between 20 years and life imprisonment.
If the jury decides that the crimes were committed in the heat of anger, passion or rage, then they must find Carter guilty of second degree murder, punishable r--——- ——
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