Commonwealth v. Melton

Opinion by

Mr. Chief Justice Bell,

Defendant pleaded guilty and then changed his plea to “not guilty” to the murder of Rose Schloss. A jury found defendant guilty of murder in the first degree with the penalty fixed at death. The Court en banc granted defendant’s motion for a new trial on the ground that an aggregate of prejudicial events, including an emotional outburst by Bose Schloss’s bereaved husband, “created such an inflammatory atmosphere that the jury’s determination may well have been based upon other than the substantive, factual evidence introduced.” The Commonwealth appealed from…