Commonwealth v. Sweney
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Court of Quarter Sessions of Columbia county. The defendant, George Sweney, was indicted in the court below, for a libel on David Petriken, and found guilty on the third and fourth counts of the indictment.
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Error to the Court of Quarter Sessions of Columbia county. The defendant, George Sweney, was indicted in the court below, for a libel on David Petriken, and found guilty on the third and fourth counts of the indictment. Both these counts charged, that the defendant did wickedly, &c. <£ print and publish, and cause and procure to be printed and published, a certain other false, scandalous, wicked, and malicious libel of and concerning the said David Petriken, the substance of which said false, scandalous, and malicious libel is as follows:” and then set out the libel with innuendoes. After…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Duncan, J.
The libels against the prosecutor stated in the judgment are very atrocious, their atrocity ought not to close the eyes of the court on their defective statement in the indictment.
The jury having found the defendant not guilty on all the counts, but the third and fourth, the attention of the court will be confined to the reasons alleged to arrest the judgment on these two counts, or rather the reason. The additional pleas are above my comprehension, and I, therefore, pass over that which transcends all my intellectual faculties.
This reason is…
2Cited by1 opinion
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