Commonwealth v. Murphy

The defendant on appeal from the District 'Court was found guilty by a judge in the Superior Court under a complaint which charged that on September 8,1959, the defendant ‘ ‘was found in a place to wit: a room with apparatus, books and devices for registering bets upon the result of a contest of speed of beasts, to wit: horses . . ..” These are the defendant’s exceptions to the denial, before trial, of his motion to quash which averred “that the complaint . . . does not set out a crime either at common law or by statute. ’ ’

The bill of exceptions states: ‘ ‘ The court interpreted the…