Commonwealth v. Fromal

Opinion by

Woodside, J.,

The appellant was found guilty by a jury on two charges of larceny and burglary, and he was sentenced to concurrent terms of 8 to 16 months in jail. The only question before us is whether it was error for the trial judge to deny the defendant’s counsel the right to examine a police file prepared by a Commonwealth witness who used it to refresh his recollection before coming into court.

A police detective, testifying without notes, was asked on cross-examination whether he had refreshed his recollection prior to trial. He replied that he had. Pressed further, it developed…