Commonwealth v. Ewell

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Pomeroy,

Early on the morning of May 23,1970, three persons died in a fire which gutted a residence at 40 East Silver Street, Philadelphia. Appellant Joseph Ewell was arrested later that morning and charged with starting the *591fire. That afternoon, Ewell gave a statement to the police admitting responsibility for the blaze. A motion to suppress this statement was denied after a hearing on the issue of its voluntariness, and the statement, along with the corroborating testimony of several witnesses, was introduced at his trial. Appellant was convicted on three counts of…