Commonwealth v. Scatena

Opinion by

Mr. Chief Justice Bell,

On March 15, 1958, Vincent Scatena was convicted by a jury of murder in the first degree. He was subsequently sentenced to a term of life imprisonment. Although no direct appeal was taken from the judgment of sentence, Scatena now seeks a new trial by way of a Post Conviction Hearing Act petition. The petition was .denied by Judge Weiss of Allegheny County, who, incidentally, presided at S catena’s trial.

Appellant S catena’s petition is based solely on the ground that he had been deprived of his Constitutional right to a fair trial by prejudicial publicity…