Com. v. Johnson

Citation410 Pa. 605,190 A.2d 146
PartiesCOMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Allen JOHNSON, Appellant.
Decision Date16 April 1963
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Page 146

190 A.2d 146
410 Pa. 605
COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania
v.
Allen JOHNSON, Appellant.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
April 16, 1963.

[410 Pa. 606]

Page 147

Robert X. Medonis, Pittsburgh, Alexander J. Jaffurs, Pittsburgh, for appellant.

Edward C. Boyle, Dist. Atty., George H. Ross, William Claney Smith, Martin Lubow, Asst. Dist. Attys., Pittsburgh, for appellee.

Before BELL, C. J., and MUSMANNO, JONES, COHEN, EAGEN, O'BRIEN, and ROBERTS, JJ.

EAGEN, Justice.

The defendant, Allen Johnson, was indicted and tried for the murder of Howard 'Bubbie' Washington. The jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree and fixed the penalty at death. A motion for a new trial was denied and sentence was passed in accordance with the jury's verdict. From the judgment, this appeal was taken. In compliance with the Act of February 15, 1870, P.L. 15, 19 P.S. § 1186, we have carefully reviewed both the law and the evidence and are of the opinion that the ingredients of murder in the first degree were proven to exist beyond a reasonable doubt.

[410 Pa. 607] The factual background was as follows:

About 4:40 a. m. o'clock on November 8, 1961, the defendant and the deceased engaged in a fight in the S. & S. Club in the Hill District of the City of Pittsburgh. The versions were conflicting as to which individual was the aggressor. The police were called and a radio cruise car was dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival, the police questioned the defendant as to the identity of the other person or persons involved but he refused to disclose any such information.

The police took the defendant to the hospital where he was given emergency treatment, requiring five sutures to close an existing wound in the skull area above the left eye and six sutures to close another wound on the inner surface of the lip. A one per cent concentration of the drug procaine was injected to alleviate the pain. X-rays were taken which proved negative as to skull injury. He was discharged from the hospital and requested to return on a later date in order that the sutures might be removed.

Sometime between five and seven a. m. o'clock of the same day, the defendant phoned the son of the owner of the Ringside Bar, where Washington was employed as a bartender, and told him he was going 'to get' Washington and others for having 'ganged me.' About six-fifty a. m. o'clock of the same morning, he accosted the owner of the Ringside Bar and told him, 'I'm going to get your bartender...

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