Com. v. Powell

Citation241 A.2d 119,428 Pa. 275
PartiesCOMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Gregory POWELL, Appellant.
Decision Date03 January 1968
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Page 119

241 A.2d 119
428 Pa. 275
COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania
v.
Gregory POWELL, Appellant.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
Jan. 3, 1968.

[428 Pa. 276]

Page 120

Arthur F. Earley, Philadelphia, for appellant.

[428 Pa. 277] Arlen Specter, Dist. Atty., [428 Pa. 276] Alan J. Davis, Asst. Dist. Atty., Chief, Appeals Div., Michael M. Baylson, Asst. Dist. Atty., [428 Pa. 277] Richard A. Sprague, First Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, for appellee.

[428 Pa. 276] Before BELL, C.J., and MUSMANNO, JONES, COHEN, EAGEN, O'BRIEN and ROBERTS, JJ.

[428 Pa. 277] OPINION OF THE COURT

COHEN, Justice.

Appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree, aggravated robbery and aggravated assault and battery. The jury imposed the penalty at life imprisonment on the murder conviction. This appeal is from the denial of appellant's post-trial motions for an arrest of judgment or the grant of a new trial.

The evidence as presented by the Commonwealth established that the deceased and her sister were assaulted and robbed as they were approaching the entrance to their apartment. As a result of multiple injuries to the head inflicted by the person committing the assault, the deceased died early that evening.

The evidence linking appellant to the crime consisted of the testimony of a friend of appellant's brother that he was with appellant on the day of the assault. He further testified that appellant kept talking, rubbing his hands and looking down the street. Appellant then told the Commonwealth's witness 'he was going to get these ladies' pocketbook.' The witness then stated he immediately looked down the street and saw two women on the left hand side of the street. He testified that they were the only women in sight, and that the sister of the deceased, who was in court on the day of his testimony, was one of the women. The witness said he did not see the attack but approximately five minutes after his conversation had ended with appellant, he heard the sister of the deceased screaming, 'murder, thief, murder, thief.'

Appellant contends that he is entitled to an arrest of judgment. We disagree. The only question for our determination is whether there was sufficient circumstantial evidence of appellant's guilt beyond a reasonable[428 Pa. 278] doubt. Commonwealth v. Gooslin, 410 Pa. 285, 189 A.2d 157 (1963); Commonwealth v. Kravatz, 400 Pa. 198, 161 A.2d 861 (1960).

We believe the testimony revealing the manner and thoughts of appellant only a short time...

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