United States ex rel. Harding v. Marks

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

CLIFFORD SCOTT GREEN, District Judge.

*948I. FACTS

Before the Court is a petition for a .writ of habeas corpus brought by relator, a state prisoner. Relator argues that he was deprived of his constitutional right of due process of law by the instructions of the trial court to the jury in his criminal trial.

In instructing the jury, the trial judge made comments, unsupported by the evidence, which were unfairly prejudicial to relator. However, relator’s counsel failed to object and thus did not 'comply with Rule 1119(b) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, which states…