Commonwealth v. DePalma

Citations

• 268 Pa. 25
• 110 A. 756
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 624

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Murder—Alibi—Charge.</p> <p>1. Where on the trial of an indictment for murder the defense is an alibi, an instruction to the jury is proper which in effect states that the jury should acquit the prisoner, if his testimony as to his whereabouts at the time of the alleged killing- is sufficient to create in their minds a reasonable doubt of his having committed the act; and this is the case although the court does not specifically instruct the jury that the defense was an alibi, and define the meaning of that term.</p> <p>Criminal law — Murder—Reasonable doubt — Charge—Reputation —Character.</p> <p>2. On the trial of an indictment for murder, the trial judge commits no error in charging the jury that “by reasonable doubt we do not mean the doubt that comes to men to justify themselves in their own eyes in avoiding the performance of a solemn duty and that thereby causes them to Set aside their own convictions, and to move them away from the aim which they should have ever before them to arrivo at a true verdict.”</p> <p>3. An instruction tbat “our common experience is tbat men go along for a long time with fine reputations so that they can always prove a good character in court, and yet do commit crimes,” will not be deemed to minimize the importance of character evidence, where such instruction, read in connection with the remainder of the passage from which it was taken, shows that proper weight was given to such evidence.</p> <p>Criminal law — Murder—Jury—Challenge for cause — Prejudice■ —Discretion of court — Abuse of discretion.</p> <p>4. Where a juryman in a trial of an Italian for murder, states that he has a prejudice against the Italians as a class because “they are too much for murder,” the trial judge does not abuse his discretion in overruling a challenge against the juryman for cause, where the latter states that he could give the defendant a fair trial as a man, notwithstanding his feelings against the Italians as a class.</p> <p>Crimin