Penn v. Commonwealth

At a trial held April 10-11, 1967, the defendant, William Penn, Jr., was convicted by a jury of the first degree murder of Mozelle Leon Spencer and his punishment fixed at 20 years in the penitentiary. Judgment was entered on the jury’s verdict and sentence accordingly imposed.

Defendant seeks a reversal of this judgment and a remand of the case for a new trial. While several errors are assigned, the critical issue is the action of the trial court in admitting into evidence a statement which defendant gave police officers on the 31st day of May, 1966. Defendant also questions the sufficiency…