Commonwealth v. Landis

Citations

• 13 Pa. Super. 134
• 1900 Pa. Super. LEXIS 123

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Arson—Burning factory to defraud insurance compar nies — Act of March 31, 1860, P. L. 382, sec. 139.</p> <p>Defendant was charged in an indictment containing three counts, (1) with feloniously setting fire to a factory; (2) with feloniously attempting to set fire to a factory; (3) with burning a factory with intent to defraud certain named insurance companies. The indictment was found in the court of quarter sessions. Without a motion either to quash or to require the commonwealth to elect on which count defendant should be tried, a general plea of not guilty was entered and a general verdict of guilty was returned by the jury. On a motion for a new trial and to arrest judgment the verdict was set aside as to the first and second counts, because they were exclusively triable in the court of oyer and terminer; the motion to arrest judgment' on the third count was overruled and the defendant sentenced on that count. Held,, that the defendant was not deprived of any statutory privilege, and that after remaining silent when he should have spoken it was too late, after verdict on a count unquestionably good, for him to complain of the action of the court in limiting the verdict to that count.</p>