Commonwealth v. O'Donnell

86 Pa. D. & C. 365, 1953 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 125
CourtDauphin County Court of Quarter Sessions
DecidedMay 11, 1953
StatusPublished

This text of 86 Pa. D. & C. 365 (Commonwealth v. O'Donnell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Dauphin County Court of Quarter Sessions primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. O'Donnell, 86 Pa. D. & C. 365, 1953 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 125 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1953).

Opinion

Kreider, J.,

This case comes before the court on defendant’s motions to quash and dismiss these proceedings. At the conclusion of the Commonwealth’s testimony, defendant demurred to the evidence and this demurrer is also before us for disposition. The Commonwealth charges that defendant, Roland G. O’Donnell, made a false statement and concealed a material fact when he submitted his application for his 1952 Pennsylvania operator’s license to the Department of Revenue in Harrisburg, Pa., by indicating on his application that his license had not been suspended or revoked and that he failed to indicate thereon his record of suspensions during the past three years preceding the date of the application. The applicable statute is section 620, subsec. (j), of The Vehicle Code of May 1, 1929, P. L. 905, as amended, 75 PS §231 (j), which provides that:

“It shall be unlawful for any person to commit any of the following acts: (j) To use a false or fictitious name, or give a false or fictitious address, in any application or form required under the provisions of this act, or make a false statement, or conceal a material fact, or otherwise commit a fraud in any application.” (Italics supplied.)

The information was made against defendant on October 6, 1952, by Stephen Richardson, a member of the Pennsylvania State Police, before Alderman D. W. Fahnestock in the City of Harrisburg, Dauphin County, Pa. The information sets forth that the alleged violation was discovered on September 29, 1952. On the day the information was filed, Alderman [367]*367Fahnestock mailed a registered letter to defendant at the latter’s home in Shippensburg, Cumberland County, Pa., enclosing a notice in writing of the filing of the information, together with a copy thereof and a notice to appear within 10 days from the date of the written notice. These papers were received by defendant who, on October 16, 1952, appeared before the alderman in Harrisburg, waived summary hearing and posted bond for his appearance in the Dauphin County Court.

When the case came on for hearing in court but before testimony was taken, defendant’s counsel moved to quash the proceedings on the ground that the transcript of the alderman was fatally defective in that it failed to set forth the fact of the filing of the information, the date when the information was filed and what the information contained; that neither the transcript nor the information set out that the magistrate was the nearest available magistrate to the point where the alleged violation occurred in accordance with section 1201 (a) of The Vehicle Code; that neither the transcript nor any of the papers in the hands of the district attorney showed that the information was returned by the alderman to the court within 15 days after the posting of bond by defendant in accordance with section 1204(b) of The Vehicle Code, 75 PS §734(5).

The court reserved its decision on defendant’s motion to quash and proceeded to take the Commonwealth’s testimony, at the conclusion of which defendant renewed his motion to quash and enlarged his objections further, contending that the Commonwealth had failed to show that the written statements which were the basis of the prosecution were made by defendant in the City of Harrisburg and County of Dauphin and that therefore this court had no jurisdiction of the case; that Alderman Fahnestock of the City of Harrisburg had no jurisdiction of the charge originally [368]*368since he was not the nearest available magistrate to the place where the alleged violation occurred; that the testimony of the Commonwealth showed that the Commonwealth had knowledge of the violation charged more than 15 days prior to the filing of the information and that therefore the prosecution was barred by the statute of limitations set up in section 1201 of The Vehicle Code; that the Commonwealth’s testimony failed to show any direct knowledge on the part of the Commonwealth’s witnesses of the violation charged and that the information having been made on direct averment and not on information and belief, was fatally defective.

_ ,. Testimony

The Commonwealth offered in evidence defendant’s application for his 1952 Operator’s License, on which the following appears:

“IMPORTANT. Were you involved in any accidents within or outside of this State while operating a motor vehicle during the twelve months preceding this application for license? (Yes or no) No if “YES”; GIVE DETAILS ON REVERSE SIDE.

“I hereby make application for 1952 operator’s license and aver that my license, or right to operate has not been suspended or revoked in this State or elsewhere and that I have no mental or physical incapacity except as follows: License suspended or revoked (No) (if during past 3 years, give reason, date and in what State) Mental or physical incapacity as follows -and I also aver that all statements in this application are true and correct.

Roland Odonnell”

State Patrolman Richardson testified that he called on defendant at the latter’s home in Shippensburg and showed him a photostatic copy of his application for a 1952 operator’s license and that defendant admitted that the answers and signature appearing thereon were his.

[369]*369The Commonwealth also offered in evidence a document entitled: “Official Notification of Withdrawal of Motor Vehicle Privileges.” This notification was issued by the Department of Revenue, Bureau of Highway Safety, and is signed T. E. Transeau, Director of Highway Safety, for Otto Messner, Secretary of Revenue. It sets forth on its face that the date of withdrawal of defendant’s operator’s license was July 27, 1950; that the term of withdrawal was “indefinite”; that his operator’s privileges had been suspended and that defendant’s license had been received in the department thereafter on August 23, 1950.

Norwood Keck, chief, of the Safety Responsibility Division of the Pennsylvania, Department of Revenue testified that the operator, privileges of defendant are still under suspension, defendant’s suspension having been effective, as stated, on July 27, 1950, less than three years prior to defendant’s application filed on December 15, 1951.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
86 Pa. D. & C. 365, 1953 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 125, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-odonnell-paqtrsessdauphi-1953.