Commonwealth v. Chickerella

Citations

• 251 Pa. 160
• 96 A. 129
• 1915 Pa. LEXIS 649

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Criminal procedure — Murder—Instructions to jury — Reference to defendant’s failure to deny Commonwealth’s evidence — Act of April 23,1887, P. L. 158.</p> <p>1. At the trial of an indictment for murder where the Commonwealth made out a prima facia case and where the defense offered no evidence, instructions to the jury to the effect that the defense “has not made any denial of the testimony as offered by the Commonwealth” did not violate Section 10 of the Act of April 23, 1887, P. L. 158, which prohibits any adverse reference by counsel or court to the failure of defendant in a criminal ease to offer himself as a witness.</p> <p>2. In such case the right of the jury to fix the degree of the prisoner’s guilt was not taken away by instructions to the effect that under the statute all murder committed in the perpetration of or in an attempt to perpetrate a robbery is murder of the first degree, even if there be no specific intent to kill the victim, where the jury were further told that it was not only the right but the duty of the jury, if they found the prisoners or either of them guilty, to determine by their verdict whether the guilt was of murder of the first or second degree.</p>