Commonwealth v. Jenkins
Decision Date | 17 March 1964 |
Citation | 198 A.2d 497,413 Pa. 606 |
Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. William Alfred JENKINS, Appellant. |
Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
A. Benjamin Johnson, Jr., Philadelphia, for appellant.
Thomas M. Reed, Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, for appellee.
Before BELL, C. J., and MUSMANNO, JONES, COHEN, EAGEN O'BRIEN and ROBERTS, JJ.
The defendant, William Alfred Jenkins, after indictment and trial was found guilty by a jury of murder in the first degree. The sentence was fixed at life imprisonment. Following the denial of a new trial and imposition of sentence, an appeal to this Court followed.
An examination of the record discloses prejudicial error, which requires the grant of a new trial.
The grandmother of the defendant was called on his behalf to testify, inter alia, concerning his previous good reputation in the community. Immediately after her declaration that his reputation was excellent, the Commonwealth's counsel was permitted, over objection, to pursue cross-examination in the following manner:
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It is clear to us that this line of questioning was primarily for the purpose of calling to the attention of the jury particular acts of prior misconduct on the part of the defendant and was, therefore, improper. Character witnesses may legitimately be questioned as to whether or not they ever heard persons in the neighborhood attribute particular offenses to the defendant. This is allowable for the purpose of testing the accuracy of the witness's testimony by showing that he or she is not thoroughly familiar with the reputation concerning which he has testified. However, prejudicial questions, which obviously are for the purpose of showing the commission of a specific crime or crimes for which the defendant is not presently accused, are not legitimate or fair on cross-examination. That the examination concerned was prejudicial is beyond argument. See, Com. v. Beck, 122 Pa.Super. 123, 184 A. 761 (1936); Commonwealth v. Hurt, 163 Pa. Super 232, 60 A.2d 828 (1948); Commonwealth v. Thomas, 282 Pa. 20, 127 A. 427 (1925); Commonwealth v. Becker, 326 Pa. 105, 191 A. 351 (1937).
The Commonwealth argues that because the questions were prefaced with the words, 'You had heard,' that the inquiries were necessarily directed to whether or not the witness had heard in the community that the defendant was charged with the commission of the crimes mentioned. But this does not follow. The witness could truthfully answer the questions affirmatively and 'have heard' the matters referred to from the defendant personally, or from his counsel, or as a spectator or...
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Com. v. Morgan
...135,650 A.2d 863, 866 (1994) (quoting Commonwealth v. Peterkin, 511 Pa. 299, 513 A.2d 373 (1986)); see also Commonwealth v. Jenkins, 413 Pa. 606, 607, 198 A.2d 497, 498 (1964) (although cross-examination aimed at establishing a defendant's particular acts of misconduct is improper, characte......
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Com. v. Darden
...the Act of 1933, supra. Nor are we persuaded that the present situation may be equated with that presented in Commonwealth v. Jenkins, 413 Pa. 606, 198 A.2d 497 (1964), wherein we condemned questioning which was primarily for the purpose of calling the jury's attention to prior misconduct o......
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Commonwealth v. Stetler
... ... reputation, the clear thrust of the prosecutor's ... questioning of the reputation witness was to put before the ... jury the fact that appellant had been previously convicted of ... driving while intoxicated. Such questioning is impermissible ... See Commonwealth v. Jenkins, 413 Pa. 606, 198 A.2d ... 497 (1964). See also McCormick on Evidence § 191 at 457 ... n. 74 (Cleary ed. 1972) ... [431 A.2d 999] ... However, we ... agree with the trial court that the error is not of ... sufficient magnitude to warrant relief. Manifestly, there is ... the ... ...
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