Dykes v. Commonwealth

Opinion op the Court by

Judge McCandless

Reversing.

Appellant was convicted of the offense of assault and battery and fined $250.00. He was present but did not testify on the trial. In allusion to this the Commonmonwealth’s attorney in his closing argument to the jury said: ‘ ‘ The defendant has been sitting there during the trial of the case and has made no explanation why he had beat up (the prosecuting witness) Willie Stacy.”

Defendant objected and the court told the jury “that was incompetent and improper and should not be commented on,” whereupon the attorney said “that the defendant had…