Commonwealth v. Pava

Citations

• 268 Pa. 520
• 112 A. 103
• 1920 Pa. LEXIS 729

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Murder—Evidence —■ Credibility — Cross-examination— Examination of prisoner as to another crime■ — Act of March 15, 1911, P. L. 20.</p> <p>1. A conviction of murder of the second degree will not be reversed because the district attorney asked the prisoner on cross-examination whether he had not been at a certain town “to look up ■some man,” where the purpose of the question was to test the prisoner’s credibility, he having testified, on direct examination, to having been there and the question did not, under the circumstances, imputo the commission of another offense, within the meaning of the Act of March 15, 1911, P. L. 20.</p> <p>Criminal law — Murder—Evidence—Admissions — Credibility — Interpreter — Competency of witness — Remark of district attorney ■ — ■Caution by judge — Discretion—Abuse.</p> <p>2. Where a prisoner in a murder trial testifies in his own behalf, an official interpreter may testify to statements not in the nature of a confession, made by the prisoner while in jail, inconsistent with the testimony at the trial.</p> <p>3. The official character of the interpreter does not affect his competency as a witness.</p> <p>4. The admission of testimony of <a witness not familiar with defendant’s language as to admissions made by the prisoner in his presence through an interpreter, is not ground for reversal, where the testimony is merely a repetition of that of the interpreter himself, and identical with admissions testified to by officers as having been made by defendant, and spoken in English, when being taken to jail.</p> <p>5. Testimony of witnesses as to voluntary statements made by the prisoner while being taken to the station house are admissible to contradict his testimony on the witness stand.</p> <p>6. A remark of the district attorney that defendant had a witness in court whom he had failed to call, is not ground for reversal, where it appears that the trial judge promptly told the jury to disregard the remark.</p> <p>Practice