Commonwealth v. Lombardi

Citations

• 221 Pa. 31
• 70 A. 122
• 1908 Pa. LEXIS 425

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Murder—Refusal of new trial — Appeals—Assignment of errors — Segregation of fury — Barber.</p> <p>On an appeal in a murder case the refusal of the court to grant a new trial is not assignable for error.</p> <p>A judgment on a verdict of guilty of murder of the first degree will not be reversed on the ground that the jury were permitted to take their meals in the common dining room of a hotel, to sit on the veranda of the hotel, and to talk with outsiders on the windows of the jury room, where an investigation by the court below shows that the jury was always accompanied by two tipstaves, that they had a separate table for their meals, and that they had no conversation whatever with anyone relating to the case during the progress of the trial.</p> <p>Such a judgment will not be set aside on the ground that a barber was permitted to enter the jury room after the jury had been sworn, and “did then and there separately and severally shave the members of the jury,” where, on investigation, it was found that the jury made a request for a barber, counsel on both sides consented, and the court granted the request with strict instructions to the barber not to talk to the jury, and that the only word spoken by the barber was to say “next” when he had shaved one man, and was ready for another.</p> <p>It is good practice for the judge even in cases of less grade than murder to instruct and caution the jury about communications with outside parties.</p>