Commonwealth v. Steinberg

Opinion by

Hirt, J.,

The defendant was charged with “blackmail or extortion” in violation of §801 of the Act of June 24, 1939, P. L. 872, 18 PS §4801. He was found guilty of the charge and. was sentencéd. It is conceded, as it must be, that the evidence clearly convicted him of the offense. In this appeal the defendant contends that he is entitled to a new trial because of the admission of testimony, to his prejudice, of matters entirely collateral to the issue of his guilt.

Defendant was a detective in the Police Department of Philadelphia. On September 26, 1953 he called one Albert Ostroff, a…