Commonwealth v. Schnur

2 Citing cases

  1. Commonwealth v. Malone

    281 A.2d 866 (Pa. 1971)   Cited 23 times

    The bullet pierced the heart causing instant death. On the foregoing facts, the trial court was fully justified in entering an adjudication of guilt of murder in the first degree. Cf. Commonwealth v. Schnur, 440 Pa. 132, 269 A.2d 691 (1970), and Commonwealth v. Iacobino, 319 Pa. 65, 178 A. 823 (1935). It is next urged that the guilty plea should be declared invalid and of no effect because: (1) it was entered by trial counsel, rather than Malone personally; and (2) in any event it was not an intelligent and knowing plea by Malone.

  2. Commonwealth v. Smith

    443 Pa. 151 (Pa. 1971)   Cited 30 times
    In Commonwealth v. Smith, 443 Pa. 151, 277 A.2d 807 (1971), a conviction for murder committed during the robbery of a motel/gas station complex was affirmed where evidence was admitted that the defendant and an accomplice had robbed two other gas stations on the nights before and after the murder.

    The appellant's trial having taken place in 1953, the holding in Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478, 12 L.Ed.2d 977 (1964), requiring states to honor petitioners' requests for counsel is inapplicable. Johnson v. New Jersey, 384 U.S. 719, 16 L.Ed.2d 882 (1966). Furthermore, this Court has repeatedly held that we will not review the voluntariness of a confession when that issue is raised for the first time on appeal. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Schnur, 440 Pa. 132, 269 A.2d 691 (1970); Commonwealth v. Nash, 436 Pa. 519, 261 A.2d 314 (1970). Likewise, when the trial court is not put on notice that the voluntariness of a confession is challenged and appellant testifies to substantially everything contained in his confession, he is not entitled to a Jackson-Denno hearing. Commonwealth v. Rhine, 440 Pa. 68, 269 A.2d 460 (1970); Commonwealth v. Robinson, 433 Pa. 88, 249 A.2d 536 (1969).