Commonwealth v. Powers
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Indictment of Thomas Powers, Alonzo Jellison, John Keating and Thomas Kennedy, for larceny from the person of William Abite.
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Indictment of Thomas Powers, Alonzo Jellison, John Keating and Thomas Kennedy, for larceny from the person of William Abite. At the arraignment of the defendants in the superior court in Suffolk before Lord, J., the judge announced “ that in cases where several parties were joined in one indictment, and the defence was the same, it would be regarded as a single trial; that if a large number of defendants, say fifteen or twenty, were joined in an indictment for riot or other crime, it would not be allowed that each one should have separate counsel, each counsel to make an opening, and each to…
1Opinion of the CourtGbay, J.
The bill of exceptions states that no suggestion was made that either of the defendants was prejudiced by a joint trial. The question whether the defendants should be tried separately or jointly was within the discretion of the presiding judge, and not a subject of exception. United States v. Marchant, 12 Wheat. 480. Commonwealth v. Robinson, 1 Gray, 555. The point, taken at the argument, that each of the defendants should have been allowed to be represented throughout by separate counsel, does not appear to have been made at the trial, and is not therefore now open to the defendants. For…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- United States v. MarchantSupreme Court of the United States · 1827
3Cited by2 opinions
- City of Springfield v. SleeperMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1874
- United States v. MundayDistrict Court, W.D. Washington · 1914