Commonwealth ex rel. Harris v. Banmiller

Hagan, J.,

Petitioner, Curtis Harris, was indicted for murder on bill no. 503, November term, 1952, and, after pleading guilty, was sentenced on April 21, 1953, by Judges Edwin O. Lewis, Joseph Sloane and Cyrus Palmer, to a term of life imprisonment. He has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, in which he has raised the following three points: (1) Prior to his trial the court should have appointed a lunacy commission to determine whether or not he was insane; (2) the Commonwealth did not prove that the crime rose to first degree murder; and (3) prior to the pronouncement of sentence the…