Commonwealth v. Potts
Commonwealth v. Potts
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Though this appeal is from judgment of death, it is not alleged that any error was committed on the trial of the case, nor is there any complaint that the verdict returned against the appellant was not justified by the evidence. The sole assignment is that the court erred in not granting a new trial upon the discovery, some time after the verdict had been rendered, that, when the name of James T. McCullough was called as a juror, one John T. McCullough responded, and, after having been sworn, took a seat in the jury box.
It is very clear from the depositions taken in connection with the motion for a new trial that John T. McCullough did not intentionally impersonate another, but allowed himself to be accepted as a juror under the honest belief that he was the juror intended to be called. When the jury wheel was being filled for the year 1913, one of the jury commissioners gave to their clerk the name of John T. McCullough, with his occupation as a watchman and his residence West Chester. The clerk inadvertently wrote the name of James T. McCullough, adding, however, the occupation and residence given to him by the commissioner, and the slip, so written, was placed in the wheel. At that time John T. McCullough was a watchman and had for years been a resident of West Chester. There had not been, so far as can be gathered from the depositions, any resident in the' town known by the name of James T. McCullough. The slip as placed in the jury wheel was drawn out when the jurors were selected for the term of court at which the prisoner was tried, and it so appeared on the venire. After ineffectual efforts to serve notice upon James T. McCullough to serve as a juror, a notice was sent to John T. McCullough, who returned it to the
The assignment of error is overruled, the judgment is affirmed and the record remitted for the purpose of execution.
Reference
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- Criminal law — Murder—New trial — Jury—Mistake as to juror —Knowledge of mistake. Judgment of death entered upon a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree should not be reversed where the sole error alleged is the court’s action in refusing to grant a new trial, upon the discovery some time after the verdict had been rendered that when a certain juror’s name was called, another man with a different first name responded and was sworn, where it clearly appeared that the latter did not intentionally impersonate another, but allowed himself to be accepted as a juror under the honest belief that he was the juror intended to be called, that he was in fact the man whose name the jury commissioner intended to put in the wheel; that he was accurately described as to residence, occupation, middle letter and last name, the only misdescription, resulting from a clerical error, being as to his first name; that there was no resident of the town known by the name as first called; and that the answers of the witness when examined on his voir dire were sufficient to put counsel for the prisoner on notice of these facts.