Commonwealth v. Wendt
Commonwealth v. Wendt
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The appellant stands convicted of the crime of murder of the first degree under an indictment charging him with the murder of Michael McGinley, 'on the 13th of October, 1915, despite the very earnest contention made on his behalf that the act of killing was done in self-defense. This was the only defense set up. On the appeal our first duty is to determine whether the evidence reasonably admits of the conclusion that the killing was wilful, deliberate and premeditated. If it so appears, the responsibility of determining the guilt rested exclusively with the jury. “We do. not sit,” said the court in McCue v. Commonwealth, 78 Pa. 185, 189, “as upon a motion for a new trial, to determine where the weight of evidence lies, but to determine whether the ingredients necessary to constitute murder of the first degree shall have been proved to exist. These being proved, the jury must determine the guilt or innocence of the prisoner.”
The case, on the evidence, presents these facts., That McGinley met his death at the hands of the appellant is not questioned. About midday of the 13th of October, 1915, in company with a younger brother, appellant was at a place just outside the limits of Altoona, known as Slippery Race Woods, both being armed with revolvers. According to appellant’s statement on the stand, they had gone to this place to shoot mark. The night before the last preceding night, a store in the City of Al
Turning now to the defense set up. Defendant testified that he was seated on a log in the woods cleaning his revolver, his brother being but a few feet away, when McGinley approached; that he did not know McGinley and had not seen him until a shot was fired and his brother started to run and fell within about ten feet from where the defendant was as the shot was fired; that he then turned and saw McGinley at a distance from 80 to 100 feet approach with a revolver in his hand, and heard him call “Stop! or I’ll blow your—head off.” With that defendant says he received a shot from Mc-Ginley’s gun in the right arm, and at once started toward McGinley with a 25-caliber gun in his hand, with a view, he says, to make McGinley stop shooting; that they finally met and just as they were coming together he received another shot from McGinley in his right hand. He was then asked, “Then what did you do?” His reply was, “I don’t know much about that.” This question followed, “Do you know of your clinching, taking hold of each other?” Answer, “I do, I was trying to, get his gun away from him.” Another question was, “When did McGinley stop fighting?” His answer was, “When he dropped.” His testimony on cross-examination went more into details and was in part as follows: Q. “All the while after McGinley shot you the first time he kept coming toward you?” A. “Yes sir.” Q. “So you and he were traveling that 80 feet at the same time?” A. “Yes sir.” Q. “Were you running?” A. “I don’t know.” Q. “And you don’t know whether McGinley was-running?” A. “No sir.” Q. “You ran into the muzzle of this man’s gun?” A. “I suppose.” Q. “Ran right
We have recited so much of the defendant’s testimony, pot only for the frequent admissions there occurring that it was his hand that slew McGinley, but that it might the more clearly appear upon what slight basis the theory of self-defense was made to rest. > The evidence of the casé supported the contention that McGinley went into the woods unarmed. If this was the conclusion reached by the jury, the story told by the defendant was simply incredible; all the more, if the jury credited,
The several assignments of error all relate in one way or another to the evidence admitted touching the commission of the earlier crime of breaking into the Altoona store, the felony therein committed and the defendant’s complicity therein. This evidence was admitted for the purpose of showing motive for the commission of the homicide for which the defendant was being tried. Its competency for that purpose was not denied; it is complained, however, that it went beyond that, both in its admission and its application; that once having shown a confession by the defendant that he was guilty of that particular offense, the inquiry should have stopped there,. and that it did not serve in any way to prove motive by introducing in evidence the details of that offense.' Counsel contend that their client was seriously prejudiced by
We fail to find anything in the evidence touching the earlier offense that would impair the defendant’s character and reputation to any greater degree than the proof of defendant’s guilt in connection therewith necessarily would. Nothing in any of the details or particular circumstances that were developed by the testimony aggravated it beyond what usually attends the commission of offenses of like character. The prosecution had a right to show the participation in the earlier offense in order to establish motive for the commission of the later, for which he was being tried. If defendant’s character suffered in consequence, it was not from the latitude allowed in the admission of evidence, but from the persuasiveness of the evidence that he was the guilty person. Furthermore, there is no rule of evidence which, in such cases as this, concludes the prosecution where an admission of guilt of the earlier offense has been shown, from' producing further evidence, if it can, relevant to the question of motive arising out of the earlier offense, with the view to support and sustain the admission if after-wards questioned.
The learned trial judge, in his charge to the jury, after stating the contention of the prosecution that motive for the killing of McGinley to escape from arrest and trial could be derived from the testimony showing the defendant’s guilt of the earlier offense, proceeded thus: “Now the Kelchner robbery—the earlier offense—which has been referred to, to my mind is important in another aspect of the case; it will probably help you to determine what weight will be placed upon the evidence of the defendant in this case.” It is the contention of the appellant that by this instruction the jury were given to understand that if they were satisfied from the evidence that the defendant was guilty of the earlier offense, they might take such fact into consideration in determining
Upon a review of the whole case we are of opinion that no substantial error was committed by the court; that the evidence fully justifies the verdict rendered and that the judgment of the court should be affirmed. It is so ordered, and the record is remitted for purposes of execution.
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- Criminal law—Murder—First degree—Evidence—Sufficiency — Motive—Earlier related offense—Admission—Denial at trial—Corroborative evidence of admission—Self-defense—Court and jury— Appeals—Review—Practice, Supreme Court. 1. In reviewing a murder ease the Supreme Court does not sit as upon a motion for a new trial to determine where the weight of evidence lies, hut to determine whether the ingredients necessary to constitute murder of the first degree shall have been proved to exist. Where these have been proved, the question of the guilt or innocence of the defendant is for the jury. 2. On the trial of a homicide case the prosecution may show defendant’s participation in an earlier offense in order to establish motive for the commission of the homicide, and where the guilt of such earlier offense has been shown by an admission of the defendant before the trial the Commonwealth may, if defendant disputes his guilt thereof at the trial, produce further evidence, relevant to the question of motive arising out of the earlier offense, with the view to support and sustain the admission. 3. On the trial of an indictment for murder there was evidence that defendant and his brother had burglarized a store on the night preceding the murder and early on the day of the murder had admitted their participation in the burglary to a witness and showed him certain articles they had taken. This witness informed a constable, who, unaccompanied and unarmed, proceeded to a woods where defendant and his brother had been seen. Shortly thereafter a dozen or more shots were heard from the direction of the woods and another constable hurried to the scene and saw defendant and his brother running in the opposite direction. Deceased had been shot six times in front and four times in the back. Defendant and his brother fled, taking with them decedent’s watch and money and both were apprehended a year after the shooting in another jurisdiction. There was evidence that both defendant and his brother were acquainted with the constable and knew him to be an officer. The defense set up was self-defense, defendant contending that he did not know deceased to be an officer; that deceased had fired the first shot at him and had hit him in the right hand and arm; that they then clinched; that decedent fell and defendant and his brother dragged him face downward into nearby bushes and fied. It appeared from testimony of witnesses for the Commonwealth who saw the defendant the day after the shooting that he was not then suffering from any injury to his hand or arm. Held, a verdict of guilty of murder of the first degree was warranted by the evidence and should be sustained. 4. In such case where defendant’s confession of his participation in the burglary was admitted for the purpose of showing his motive in killing the officer, the Commonwealth was properly permitted to present further evidence corroborative of defendant’s admission where he denied at the trial that he had committed the .burglary. 5. In such case where defendant after having confessed to his guilt of the burglary denied at the trial that he had participated in it, the court did not err in charging “Now the......robbery—the earlier offense—which has been referred to, to my mind is important in another aspect of the case; it will probably help you to determine what weight will be placed upon the evidence of the defendant in this case.”