Commonwealth v. Braunfeldt

Citations

• 72 Pa. Super. 25
• 1919 Pa. Super. LEXIS 238

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Arson—Indictment.</p> <p>It is not necessary that an indictment under the 138th Section of the Penal Code (P. L. 1860, 415) should aver the intention with which the defendant committed the act; an averment that it was wilfully and maliciously done being sufficient. ■ The allegation in an indictment that the crime was committed with intent to defraud an insurance company was unnecessary and immaterial, and must be treated as surplusage. An indictment charging a defendant with maliciously setting fire with intent to burn two barns, which are the property of another, fulfills all the requirements in order to constitute an offense under the 138th Section of the Penal Code.</p> <p>Where a defendant was charged in an indictment under the provisions of 138th Section of the Penal Code with wilfully and maliciously setting fire with intent to burn, two barns on the property of his wife, and the averments in the indictment are duly proven, a judgment on a verdict-of guilty will not be set aside because of the mere fact that the owner of the buildings was the wife of the defendant.</p> <p>Criminal law — Charge of court — Circumstantial evidence.</p> <p>It is not error for a trial judge in his instructions to a jury as to the principles to be applied in considering circumstantial evidence to say:</p> <p>“The evidence of facts and circumstances must be such as to exclude to a moral certainty every hypothesis but that of the guilt of the offense imputed; or in other words, the facts and circumstances must not only all be consistent with, and point to the guilt of the accused, but they must be inconsistent with his innocence.”</p>