Commonwealth v. Weber

Citations

• 167 Pa. 153
• 31 A. 481
• 1895 Pa. LEXIS 870

Syllabus

<p>Murder — Comment of district attorney on failure of prisoner to call Ms wife as witness.</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment for murder, where it appears that the prisoner’s wife was present at the killing, it is not improper for the district attorney to comment upon the fact that the prisoner failed to call his wife as a witness for the defense.</p> <p>Murder — Offer by commonwealth to call wife of prisoner — Evidence.</p> <p>It is no ground for reversing a judgment on a verdict of guilty of murder of the first degree, that the court below refused to strike from the record an offer by tire commonwealth to place the wife of the prisoner on the stand as a witness for the prosecution, when it appears that the offer was objected to by the prisoner, and overruled by the court.</p> <p>Murder — Improper comment on evidence by district attorney — Review.</p> <p>The Supreme Court cannot consider an assignment of error alleging improper comment made by the district attorney upon the evidence at the trial of an indictment for murder, where no objection was made at the trial, and the only report of what the district attorney said is contained in the notes of a private stenographer of the counsel for the prisoner.</p> <p>It seems that it is improper for the district attorney to attack the character of the prisoner, not from the evidence, but by inference from the fact that the prisoner had called no witnesses to testify to good character; but such an impropriety is not ground for reversal, where no objection is made to it at the trial.</p> <p>Murder — Jury— Challenges.</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment for murder where all the jurors present had been called and either sworn, challenged or stood aside, and eleven had been accepted, sworn and taken their seat in the box, it was not error to call the twelfth juror from those who had been stood aside, where it appeal’s that the prisoner’s peremptory challenges had not yet been exhausted.</p> <p>On the trial of an indictment