Commonwealth v. Crawford

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Pomeroy,

Arthur Crawford, the appellant, was convicted by a jury in Philadelphia of second degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to a term of ten-to-twenty years’ imprisonment. Following denial of post-trial motions, appellant brought this direct appeal. We will reverse and remand for a new trial.

It is necessary to discuss only one of appellant’s three allegations of error.1 The victim of the crime, Jesse Fisher, a fifteen-year old boy, was beaten and shot to death on August 12,1969 by a number of youths, members of a rival street gang, as he…