Commonwealth v. Gerstman
Commonwealth v. Gerstman
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The specifications of error in this case refer only to the action of the court below in overruling the .defendant’s motion to quash the indictment. The motion to quash was for reasons not appearing upon the record, and the burden was upon the defendant to establish the facts which he alleged as grounds for quashing the indictment. The bill of exceptions in this case brings up no evidence with the record; it could not do so, for the reason that the defendant took no testimony upon his motion to quash. The assertion of the defendant was that the grand jury had voted simultaneously upon a number of indictments, charging different defendants with separate and distinct offenses, having no connection with each other. He argued that from this alleged fact it must be assumed that the grand jury, in passing upon this particular bill, had considered the testimony of the witnesses who had appeared with regard to each and every one of the other bills and whose names had been properly endorsed upon the indictment with respect to which they had testified. The only thing brought up by this bill of exceptions is the ruling of the court upon the extent to which the defendant would be permitted to interrogate the members of the grand jury as to the proceedings of that body, and which was as follows: The defendant proposed to call certain members of the grand jury and interrogate them as to their proceedings. The district attorney objected to permitting any member of the' grand jury to give testimony impeaching any act of
The judgment is affirmed, and it is ordered that the defendant appear in the court below at such time as he may be there called and that he be by that court committed until he has complied with the sentence, or any part of it, which had not been performed at the time this appeal was made a supersedeas.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Commonwealth v. Gerstman, (1) Commonwealth v. Gerstman, (2)
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Jury—Gra/nd jury—Indictment—Extent to which grand jurors may be examined as to their action—Criminal law. While grand jurors may be examined as to what witnesses had testified before them with regard to an indictment and what the testimony of such witnesses had been, no member of a grand jury will be permitted to testify how He, or any member of a jury voted on an indictment, nor what opinion any of them expressed in relation thereto, nor the act of either which might invalidate the finding of the grand jury. His action, and the action of his fellow jurors must be shown only by the returns which they make to the court.