Commonwealth v. DuBoise

Citations

• 269 Pa. 169
• 112 A. 461
• 1921 Pa. LEXIS 531

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Murder—Evidence — Circumstantial evidence — ■ Presumption — 'Weapon—Motive—Declarations—State of mind — III will.</p> <p>1. In a case of circumstantial evidence, the proof derived from the circumstances is a question of natural presumption, and is to be determined by the jury, and not by the court.</p> <p>2. What the accused said, as much as the things he did, on the night of the crime, are circumstances in the ease to be considered by the jury in determining his guilt or innocence.</p> <p>3. Where the prisoner admitted that things he said on the night of the crime, were false, the jury is entitled to consider these false statements, and to draw from them the conclusion that his purpose in telling the untruths was to conceal the truth, and that his reason for the concealment of the truth, was that he knew, if told, it would injure him.</p> <p>4. On a murder trial, a shotgun, ramrod and oily rags, and a shell loaded with number six shot, taken from defendant’s overalls worn by him on the night of the crime, are properly admitted in evidence, where it appears deceased was shot by a gun loaded with number six shot, of the same bore as the shell, and the other evidence tends to show that the articles in question had been used by defendant in connection with the crime.</p> <p>5. Threats uttered by defendant against deceased, his wife, are admissible, if made close in time before the crime — in this case from three to five months.</p> <p>6. In such case the admission of the threats in evidence, is proper, not only as threats, but as declarations showing defendant’s state of mind and his ill will towards his wife.</p>