Commonwealth v. Rose, 209

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Writing for the Court: MR. CHIEF JUSTICE KEPHART:
• Citation: 327 Pa. 220,193 A. 17
• Parties: Commonwealth v. Rose, Appellant
• Docket Number: 209
• Decision Date: 07 July 1937

193 A. 17

327 Pa. 220

Commonwealth
v.
Rose, Appellant

No. 209

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

July 7, 1937

Argued: May 24, 1937

Appeal, No. 209, Jan. T., 1937, from judgment of O. & T. Delaware Co., Dec. T., 1936, No. 286, in case of Commonwealth v. Edward Rose. Judgment affirmed.

Indictment for murder. Before MacDADE, J.

The opinion of the Supreme Court states the facts.

Verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree, with penalty fixed at death, and judgment and sentence thereon. Defendant appealed.

Errors assigned, among others, were various rulings on evidence.

Judgment affirmed and record remitted for the purpose of execution.

John E. McDonough, with him W. A. Burns, G. Harmon Webb and R. Paul Lessy, for appellant.

Guy G. deFuria, Assistant District Attorney, with him Wm. B. McClenachan, Jr., District Attorney, for appellee.

Before KEPHART, C.J., SCHAFFER, MAXEY, DREW, LINN, STERN and BARNES, JJ.

OPINION [193 A. 18]

[327 Pa. 221] MR. CHIEF JUSTICE KEPHART:

Edward Rose (properly, Ruzowicz) was convicted of murder in the first degree with the penalty fixed at death. His appeal to this court assigns trial errors for reversal. The record shows all the ingredients of murder [327 Pa. 222] of the first degree and amply warrants the conviction and sentence.

Rose, with two other companions, Duminiak and Oreszak, started out in Chester on a tour of robbery. Their aim was to hold up any likely victim or break into and rob any business establishment. They stole an automobile and with it drove to the City of Chester looking for victims. Sometime after midnight they noticed a colored man, Leon Butler, on the street. They decided to rob him and, with masks over their faces, proceeded to hold up Butler at pistol point, but found only a pocket knife on his person. After some conversation they concluded to force him to join the enterprise. The four men drove to a number of stores and gas stations, but were unsuccessful in their attempts to break in. They attempted to steal a larger automobile, but in this they also failed. They then drove to Linwood, and there tried to break into several stores but were frightened away. Thereupon they decided to go to a place called Lover's Lane, a dark and lonely spot where they had reason to believe they would find persons to rob. As they approached this place they saw a man and woman walking along the road and determined to rob them. Before they could turn their automobile, however, the intended victims disappeared, but they saw an automobile parked along the road with occupants. After masking themselves the four crept up to the automobile and discovered a colored man and girl in the car asleep. As the victim, Tranom, was awakened, he was covered with a gun by Rose and dragged from the car. Defendant beat and choked him while Butler went through his pockets. They found only 41 cents. While Rose and his companions were quarreling over this small sum, Tranom succeeded in breaking away and started to run to safety. Rose directed his companions to catch him, and, when Tranom was only 25 feet away, told one of them to shoot. The companion hesitated, and Rose grabbed the gun from his hand, firing three shots at Tranom, who fell, [327 Pa. 223] mortally wounded and died within a short time. They next turned their attention to the girl in the car. She was silenced by threats, and the marauders took her away with them. Rose was seated with her in the back seat and attempted to rape her. Being unsuccessful, they stopped the car, took the girl out of it, and three of them, Butler not taking part, proceeded to rape her. They talked of killing the girl, but...