Commonwealth v. Zuern

Citations

• 16 Pa. Super. 588
• 1901 Pa. Super. LEXIS 115

Syllabus

<p>Criminal law — Conspiracy—Essence of the crime.</p> <p>That which gives to the crime of conspiracy its distinctive character is unity of purpose, unity of design, and focalization of effort upon a particular project by the persons named in the indictment.</p> <p>Criminal law■ — Conspiracy—Boroughs—Councilmen—Contractors.</p> <p>To allege generally against a number of councilmen of a borough and several bidders for municipal contracts that they have conspired to cheat and defraud the borough, does not enable the commonwealth to prove several conspiracies each affecting different contracts, and different persons or groups of persons interested in particular contracts, unless all of the contracts and the wrong purpose in respect to them form parts of a combination in which the parties have joined. In order that any one of the defendants may be convicted of conspiracy he must be shown to have participated in the alleged combination or concert with all or some of the other defendants.</p> <p>Criminal law — Jury—Selection of jurymen.</p> <p>A conviction in a criminal case will not be set aside on the allegation that by an inspection of the venires it appeared that a large number of names were taken from the previous year and placed in a block in the wheel for the coming year, where no proof is submitted showing that there was a transfer of the names from wheel to wheel in bulk, except an affidavit on information and belief to that effect.</p> <p>Criminal law — Discretion in refusing or granting bill of particulars.</p> <p>The matter of granting or refusing a bill of particulars lies within the sound discretion of the trial judge, and where the exercise of such discretion has not been abused, it will not be reviewed by the appellate court.</p> <p>The defendant in a criminal prosecution is not entitled to demand from the district attorney a specification of the evidence to be adduced by the commonwealth at the trial.</p> <p>Conspiracy — Confederation for unlawful purpose