Commonwealth v. Fairbanks

Opinion by Mu.

Justice Mandeeino,

The appellant, Robert Fairbanks, was convicted of murder in the second degree on October 21, 1970. Post-trial motions were denied and the appellant was sentenced to serve nine to eighteen years’ imprisonment. This appeal followed. The judgment of sentence is reversed and a new trial granted because the prosecutor introduced hearsay evidence which was highly prejudicial and may have been most significant in the jury’s deliberations and their consideration of the appellant’s guilt or innocence. The hearsay evidence was first mentioned in the prosecutor’s opening…