Commonwealth v. Bittner

Opinion by

Mr. Justice O’Brien,

On June 10, 1966, while being moved within the Pittsburgh Public Safety Building, appellant Edward Bittner shot and killed Officer Gaetano of the Pittsburgh Police Department with the officer’s gun. Appellant was indicted for murder and voluntary manslaughter by a grand jury in September, 1966. Eighteen months later, on March 11, 1968, appellant’s case was listed for trial. Prior to trial, appellant’s counsel filed numerous pretrial applications for relief including an application to quash the indictment for failure to af ford Mm a speedy trial and a challenge of…