Commonwealth v. Phillips

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Bell,

Defendant pleaded guilty to the crime of murder and the trial Court, consisting of three Judges, unani mously found him guilty of murder in the first degree and fixed death as the penalty. The only question involved in this appeal is whether the lower, court abused its discretion by imposing the death penalty instead of life imprisonment.

These are the facts. At about 1:40 P.M. on April 4, 1952, the defendant, Phillips, and two accomplices were lying in wait for the purpose of robbing a man named Crain who was carrying the payroll money of the McFeeley Brick Company.…