Commonwealth v. Rizzo

Citations

• 78 Pa. Super. 163
• 1922 Pa. Super. LEXIS 77

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Criminal procedure — Remarles of counsel — Reference to defendant’s failure to deny Commonwealth’s evidence — Act ■of May 28, 1887, P. L. 158.</p> <p>At the trial of an indictment for felonious entry and larceny neither the statement by counsel “that Rizzo (one of the defendants) was there is not denied,” nor the statement “if you find that James Rizzo had these stolen goods in his possession then it is his duty to explain to you how he came into possession of them” is within section 10 of the Act of May 23, 1887, P. L. 158, prohibiting adverse reference to “neglect or refusal of any defendant actually upon trial in a criminal court to offer himself as a witness.”</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment for larceny and felonious entry, a verdict of guilty will be sustained, where the evidence, if believed, was sufficient to establish that certain boxes of merchandise were stolen from a railroad train; that broken boxes were found on the next day in a culvert under the railroad with the contents missing at or about the point where they were taken from the train; that about nine o’clock in the morning two automobile trucks and a touring car were seen near this point with five or six men endeavoring to release a truck which was stuck in a ditch; that appellant was with the trucks, and that they contained something like dry goods wrapped in paper which were transferred to the house of one of the defendants, and it further appeared that appellan| had asked the railroad company detective to intercede for them and accept restitution.</p>