Commonwealth v. Stewart

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Eagen,

This is a direct appeal from the judgment of sentence of life imprisonment imposed on Frederick Charles Stewart following his conviction by a jury in Dauphin County of murder in the first degree.1 We reverse and order a new trial.

*52Stewart was charged with killing his wife in a bar in Harrisburg by stabbing her with a butcher knife, and otherwise assaulting her with a beer bottle and a bar stool. After the jury was sworn and the trial commenced, defense counsel was informed by a juror on the panel that Fletcher Smith, the father of the victim of the killing, Dorothy…