Commonwealth v. Edwards

BECK, Judge:

The sole issue in this appeal is whether appellant William C. Edwards is entitled to a new trial because the trial court instructed the jury, despite defense objection, that it must draw no adverse inference from appellant’s failure to testify. While it is clear that, pursuant to Commonwealth v. Rasheed, 392 Pa.Super. 280, 572 A.2d 1232 (1990) (en banc), the trial court’s instruction to the jury was error, we conclude that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, the judgment of sentence is affirmed.

Appellant was convicted of third degree murder following a…