Commonwealth v. Box

391 A.2d 1316, 481 Pa. 62, 1978 Pa. LEXIS 1020

• Court: Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: October 5, 1978
• Docket: 83 and 88
• Status: Published

Opinions

OPINION

PER CURIAM:

Appellant was convicted of murder of the second degree and two counts of robbery on charges arising from the September, 1974 hold-up of a tavern in Steelton, Dauphin County. Following post-trial motions, appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder conviction and ten to twenty years’ imprisonment for each robbery conviction. The three sentences are to be served consecutively. He appeals the judgments of sentence.

Appellant alleges the following errors by the trial court: denial of a change of venue; denial of appointment (at public expense) of an investigator, a psychologist and a psychiatrist; rejection of proposed questions for voir dire; conducting individual voir dire in the presence of all veniremen; denial of pretrial discovery; refusing to order appellant’s release from “isolation” at the county prison; denial of motion for a mistrial on the grounds of incompetent testimony; denial of a mistrial because of unusual conduct by a juror; denial of appellant’s demurrer; admitting into evidence photographs of the victim; denial of a continuance sought for the purpose of locating a material witness, and denial of a motion to dismiss on the grounds of prejudicial publicity during the trial.

Appellant’s contentions are without merit.

Judgments of sentence affirmed.

MANDERINO, J., filed a dissenting opinion.