Commonwealth v. Mason

Opinion by

Mr. Justice O’Brien,

Benjamin J. Mason was convicted by a judge and jury of thirteen counts of criminal libel and twenty-one counts of anonymous publication. These convictions all arose out of his attacks against four officials of Mifflin County in his irregularly published, mimeographed “newspaper,” the Lewiston Liar. The Superior Court affirmed the criminal libel convictions, but reversed the convictions for anonymous publications. See Commonwealth v. Mason, 222 Pa. Superior Ct. 453, 295 A.2d 103 (1972). Cross-petitions for allocatur were filed, the Commonwealth requesting to have…