Commonwealth v. Shadd

Opinion by

Me. Justice Nix,

In May of 1960, appellant Ronald Shadd was tried before a judge and jury and convicted of first degree murder. Post-trial motions were filed but later withdrawn, and a sentence of life imprisonment was imposed. In October, 1965, appellant filed a petition for habeas corpus alleging that his trial had been tainted by the introduction of testimony that he stood mute when confronted at a police station interview by a co-defendant’s statement implicating him in the homicide. The trial court dismissed the petition and an appeal to this .Court followed in which we…