United States ex rel. Melton v. Hendrick

VAN DUSEN, District Judge.

The relator was tried and found guilty of murder in the first degree by a jury’s verdict which fixed the penalty at death. The relator then moved for a new trial, which was granted by the court en banc. The Commonwealth appealed the granting of a new trial to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which held that in a criminal case the Commonwealth may appeal from an adverse ruling only where the question involved is purely one of law, that the alleged errors in the court’s decision in this ease were based on fact as well as law, and that, therefore, the Commonwealth had no…