Commonwealth v. Rainey

WATKINS, President Judge.

This is an appeal from the judgment of sentence in the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, Criminal Division, by the defendant-appellant, Alexander Roosevelt Rainey, after conviction by a jury of arson — endangering persons; and from the denial of post-trial motions.

The case centered around violent marital discord between appellant and his wife. The appellant had threatened to burn the house and to kill the wife and children. The wife in a prior dispute had shot her husband but she was never prosecuted.

On the morning of July 3,1974 at 3:00 a. m. appellant’s wife…