Commonwealth v. Ramstedt
| Decision Date | 13 July 1934 |
| Docket Number | 1-1935 |
| Citation | 173 A. 772,113 Pa.Super. 548 |
| Parties | Commonwealth v. Ramstedt, Appellant |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Argued April 11, 1934
Appeal by defendant from court of Oyer and Terminer and General Jail Delivery of Somerset County, May T., 1933, No. 5, in the case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. William Ramstedt.
Indictment charging rape and bastardy. Before Boose, P. J.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Superior Court.
Verdict of guilty upon which judgment of sentence was passed. Defendant appealed.
Error assigned, among others, was the refusal of defendant's motion for new trial.
Affirmed.
Clarence L. Shaver, and with him, Daryle R. Heckman, of Shaver and Heckman, for appellant.
P. G Cober, District Attorney, for appellee.
Before Trexler, P. J., Keller, Cunningham, Baldrige, Stadtfeld Parker and James, JJ.
William Ramstedt, a man seventy years of age at the time of his trial, was convicted of the rape of a girl under sixteen years of age and bastardy, and sentenced by the court below to pay the costs of prosecution, lying-in expenses, and a sum for the maintenance of the child. The sole complaint of the appellant is on account of the refusal of the court below to grant a new trial on the ground that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence.
The Commonwealth produced but one witness, the mother of the child, and depended upon her testimony for a conviction. The defendant took the stand and denied all of the charges. In addition, the defendant produced two physicians who testified that the defendant was sterile at the time of the alleged sexual intercourse. The prosecuting witness placed the time of the intercourse as June 1, 1932, and the birth of the child as March 2, 1933, and stated that she never complained to the defendant about her condition and was never in his company after the first date. On August 22, 1933, more than fourteen months after the date of the alleged intercourse, the defendant submitted to a physical examination by two physicians for the purpose of determining whether he was capable of procreation. The physicians testified that they made an examination of the prostate gland and seminal fluid of the defendant, and that there were then no spermatozoa present and that, in their opinion, there were no live spermatozoa in his seminal fluid on and after June 1, 1932.
Neither the defendant nor his two physicians testified that he was not capable of...
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