Commonwealth v. Samuel Jones

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Jones,

The appellant was charged in each of two indictments with separate murders based upon a double homicide. When arraigned, he pleaded not guilty, but at trial, on advice of counsel and with permission of the court, he changed his plea to guilty. A court en banc (composed of three judges) was thereupon constituted to determine from the evidence the degree of the murder and to fix appropriate sentence accordingly: Act of June 24, 1939, P. L. 872, Sec. 701, 18 P.S. § 4701. The hearing was proceeded with on one of the indictments with the understanding among the court,…