Commonwealth v. Clayton

KATZ,J.,

On July 2, 1980, Denise Clayton, a/k/a Denise Fryer, was tried by this court without a jury. She was found guilty of violating 18 Pa.C.S.A. §3929 (Retail Theft) and sentence was deferred until October 9, 1980. No post-trial motions were filed on her behalf. Nevertheless, upon reflection and analysis, this *244court is constrained to, and hereby does, grant a new trial sua sponte for reasons stated below.

It is a basic tenet of the law that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty and, pursuant to this presumption, that a defendant’s past convictions, with limited exceptions not…