Commonwealth v. Pacito

Citations

• 229 Pa. 328
• 78 A. 828
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 494

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Murder — Evidence —■ Malice — Premeditation — Insanity.</p> <p>1. A conviction of murder of the first degree will be sustained where the evidence, apart from any proof of the prisoner’s insanity, shows that the prisoner went in the evening to the house in which the murdered man was eating his supper, called him to the front door, drew a revolver, fired three shots all of which took effect, resulting in almost instant death, and that he then ran off, and while attempting to make his escape, threw his revolver into a graveyard.</p> <p>2. Where on the trial of an indictment for murder the trial judge in his charge first calls the attention of the jury to the contentions of the commonwealth, and immediately explains that the case of the commonwealth must be considered in connection with the defense of insanity set up by the prisoner, and then takes up the contentions of the prisoner, what is said in the charge relating to the commonwealth’s case must be considered in connection with the instructions as to insanity and the instructions as to the prisoner’s contentions.</p> <p>3. Where, upon the trial of an indictment for murder, the charge covers the general rules of law applicable to the defense of insanity, an omission to charge specifically on the subject of.delusions, with which the prisoner is alleged to have been afflicted, is not ground for reversing a conviction, where the record shows that no request was made at the trial for more definite instructions as to such delusions.</p> <p>Criminal law — Murder—Degree of murder.</p> <p>4. On the trial of an indictment for murder the trial judge cannot be charged with insufficiently instructing the jury as to the degrees, where he points out the distinction between the two degrees and specifically states that the burden is upon the commonwealth to show a deliberate intent to take life before the crime could be raised from murder of the second to the first degree.</p> <p>5. Under such circumstances the fa