Commonwealth v. Kline
| Decision Date | 24 March 1941 |
| Docket Number | 92 |
| Citation | 19 A.2d 59,341 Pa. 238 |
| Parties | Commonwealth v. Kline, Appellant |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Argued January 20, 1941.
Appeal, No. 92, Jan. T., 1941, from sentence of O. & T Phila. Co., March Sessions, 1939, No. 288, in case of Commonwealth v. Kline. Judgment affirmed.
Indictment for murder.
The opinion of the Supreme Court states the facts.
Plea of guilty and finding of guilty of murder in the first degree with penalty of life imprisonment, before GORDON, P.J., KUN and ALESSANDRONI, JJ., opinion per curiam. Defendant appealed.
Error assigned, among others, was final judgment.
The judgment of sentence is affirmed.
Lemuel B. Schofield, with him W. Bradley Ward and David A. Flacker for appellant.
Ephraim Lipschutz, Assistant District Attorney, with him Charles F Kelley, District Attorney, for appellee.
Before SCHAFFER, C.J., MAXEY, DREW, LINN, STERN, PATTERSON and PARKER, JJ.
Appellant pleaded guilty to murder before a three judge court, which, after hearing the evidence, including that of defendant himself, adjudged him guilty of murder of the first degree, with life imprisonment as the penalty. It is urged upon us, in his behalf, that he was intoxicated to such a degree, at the time of the crime, as to inhibit him from forming an intent to take the life of his victim and that his crime was murder of the second degree.
The deceased was the mother of the young woman to whom defendant had been paying attentions for some time and whom he planned to marry. Shortly before midnight, on December 31, 1938, he, his fiancee and four other members of her family, left her mother's home to go to a hotel to attend a New Year's Eve party. Before leaving the house, they all drank some whiskey, just how much does not clearly appear. While in her home the deceased said something to defendant which might have offended him. After arrival at the hotel, he had more drinks and became intoxicated. His conduct was offensive to the other members of the party against whom he threatened he would "get even."
Ultimately he left the hotel alone and got into a taxicab, where he went to sleep on the back seat. The driver of the vehicle found him there, aroused him and he instructed the driver to take him to the home of the deceased. While on the way, defendant gave other directions, which were to take him to his home. The cab driver testified that defendant had evidently been drinking but "I wouldn't say that he was very intoxicated." When he arrived at his home, defendant went to his room and there procured a knife, variously described as a hunting knife and as a scout knife with a five inch blade. He left the house, got into another taxicab and was driven to the home of his brother-in-law. Defendant did not have the money to pay his cab fare and the brother-in-law, whom he had aroused, came out of his house and paid it. While defendant was arousing the brother-in-law, the cab driver noticed something lying on the back seat, which he identified as a knife. Defendant came back, said "I...
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