Commonwealth v. Crossmire

Citations

• 156 Pa. 304
• 33 W.N.C. 77
• 27 A. 40
• 1893 Pa. LEXIS 1346

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Murder—Challange for cause.</p> <p>If from the examination of a juror on his voir dire it appears that he has the ability and disposition to render a verdict on the evidence alone, the law adjudges him to be competent, notwithstanding the fact that he states that it would require evidence to change the impr'ession or opinion formed from what he had heard or read about the affair under investigation.</p> <p>Challenge for cause — Review.</p> <p>In reviewing the ddfeision of the lower court upon a challenge of a juror, on the ground that he had formed an opinion as to the case, nothing short of palpable error in the decision will justify the Supreme Court in reversing it.</p> <p>Evidence — Opinion of expert.</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment for murder, after a physician has described the injuries found on the body of the deceased, it is not improper to permit him to state what in his opinion caused the death, and how the injuries upon the person were inflicted.</p> <p>Evidence as to manner of hilling — Prior declarations.</p> <p>Evidence that the prisoner showed certain witnesses a peculiar grip by which he claimed he could easily “ shut anybody’s wind off” is admissible, where it appears that the grip thus shown was the same as the grip described by the physician in explaining how the deceased was strangled.</p> <p>Evidence — Threats—Attempt to procure insurance on life of deceased.</p> <p>Upon a trial of indictment for murder it is competent for the commonwealth to show that the prisoner had made threats against the deceased, who was his mother; that he had frequently quarreled with her; that on one occasion he had made an assault upon her which left its marks upon her person; and that a short time before her death he had sought but failed to obtain an insurance on her life without her knowledge.</p> <p>Withdrawal of evidence — Discretion of court.</p> <p>The offer of evidence before a jury, which the evidence fails to sustain, and its subsequen