Com. v. Davis

Citation363 Pa. 91,69 A.2d 123
PartiesCOMMONWEALTH v. DAVIS.
Decision Date14 November 1949
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Page 123

69 A.2d 123
363 Pa. 91
COMMONWEALTH

v.
DAVIS.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Nov. 14, 1949.

Before MAXEY, C. J., and DREW, LINN, STERN, PATTERSON, STEARNE and JONES, Jj.

[363 Pa. 92]

Page 124

Jacob Shulgold, Harry I. Glick, Pittsburgh, for appellant.

William S. Rahauser, Dist. Atty., Joseph I. Lewis, Asst. Dist. Atty., Pittsburgh, for appellee.

ALLEN M. STEARNE, Justice.

A jury convicted the defendant, Edward Davis, of murder in the first degree, with a recommendation of life imprisonment. His appeal is based upon the refusal of the court below to grant motions for a directed verdict of 'not guilty' or for a new trial. At the trial a single issue of of fact was presented, viz. whether gunshot wounds which caused the death were accidentally or feloniously inflicted by defendant.

Defendant was indicted and tried for the killing, on May 29, 1948, of a woman named Willie Thompson, with whom he had meretriciously cohabited until one month prior to the homicide. Upon their separation the deceased continued to occupy an apartment on the third floor rear of a tenement house, while defendant roomed with a male friend in another part of the city. Apparently defendant desired to resume their former relationship, to which deceased would not consent. She complained to a justice of the peace. Defendant was placed under bond and directed to stay away from deceased's apartment. Tenants testified that defendant on at least two occasions came to the locked door of deceased's apartment, demanding entry, which was refused, and that defendant threatened to break in the door and kill [363 Pa. 93] her. It was testified that on one occasion deceased was heard to scream in the hall that appellant was attempting to cut her with a knife which defendant denied.

On the night of the killing, tenants testified that they heard a crash and thereafter defendant was observed coming down stairs from the apartment with the end of a stick or gun protruding from under his raincoat. Upon investigation, Willie Thompson, the victim, was found lying on the floor of her apartment--dead, with multiple wounds in her body, and with her right hand nearly severed. The panel of the wooden apartment door was found broken with the door open. Defendant, the suspect, was apprehended. On June 1, 1948, defendant signed and swore to a written statement, which is not repudiated, wherein he stated that he had held a gun, when it was discharged accidentally by the hammer of the gun striking the...

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