Commonwealth v. Stephens
Commonwealth v. Stephens
Opinion of the Court
The Commonwealth introduced evidence to show that on the night of December 6, 1973, the defendant and his coventurer, one Louis Marchione, entered a drugstore in Malden. Marchione stood at the pharmacy counter at the rear of the store, waved a gun at the pharmacist, handed him a pillow case, and ordered him to fill it with drugs. The police were alerted to the robbery, and when they arrived at the store they heard Marchione tell the pharmacist, “Hurry up, fill up the bag, you mother, or I’ll blow your brains out.” The pharmacist was lying on the floor, filling the pillow case with pills, and Marchione had his gun pointed to the side of the pharmacist’s head. The defendant claims that this evidence fails to show that control of the pills was transferred from the pharmacist to Marchione.
In Commonwealth v. Flowers, 1 Mass. App. Ct. 415, 418-419 (1973), we stated: “[A]n asportation,has taken place when the robber transfers money or goods from the victim’s control to his own. Commonwealth v. Luckis, 99 Mass. 431 (1868). It is immaterial whether the transfer is
Judgment affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.