Commonwealth v. Green

Citation233 Pa. 291,82 A. 250
PartiesCOMMONWEALTH v. GREEN.
Decision Date02 January 1912
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
82 A. 250
233 Pa. 291

COMMONWEALTH
v.
GREEN.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Jan. 2, 1912.


Appeal from Court of Oyer and Terminer, Philadelphia County.

Jerry Green was convicted of murder in the first degree, and he appeals. Reversed.

Errors assigned were in the following form:

(1) The learned trial judge erred in giving greater weight, emphasis, and prominence to the commonwealth's evidence than to the evidence given on behalf of defendant. (2) That the learned trial judge erred in his charge to the jury by failing to refer to the statement made by defendant, in which he set forth his denial of the crime, and which was offered in evidence by the commonwealth. (3) That the learned trial judge erred in his charge to the jury in not directing the jury that, under all and any circumstances, they were to fix the degree of the crime. (4) That the learned trial judge erred in his supplemental charge to the jury in not directing that they were to fix the degree of the crime. (5) That the learned trial judge erred in his charge to the jury in saying: "The first question, therefore, that you are to take up, is, Did she die a natural death, or did she die by violence? While you have heard what has been said by counsel for the defendant for the purpose of leading you to the conclusion that she died a natural death, it is for you to say whether or not the argument which he has used and the evidence which he has referred to satisfies your minds that she died a natural death." (6) That the learned district attorney erred in calling the attention of the jury to the fact that the defendant had not gone upon the stand as a witness in his own defense by saying: "There is no one on earth who can tell how these things came into the possession of the prisoner but the prisoner."

Argued before FELL, C. J., and BROWN, MESTREZAT, POTTER, ELKIN, STEWART, and MOSCHZISKER, JJ.

Edwin M. Abbott, for appellant.

Joseph P. Rogers, Asst. Dist. Atty., and Samuel P. Rotan, Dist. Atty., for the Commonwealth.

MOSCHZISKER, J. The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree upon purely circumstantial evidence. At

82 A. 251

about 7 o'clock on the morning of July 30, 1910, the body of Catherine Clohessy was found with some marks upon the throat, and the coroner's physician testified that the deceased came to her death through asphyxia caused by external violence. She had left her place of business in the vicinity of the spot where her remains were subsequently located about 9...

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