Opinion,
The petitioner was convicted in the Oyer and Terminer of Allegheny county of the crime of murder in the second degree. Pie has entered аn appeal to this court, and now asks us to admit him to bail pending said аppeal. His application was denied on the first day of the рresent term, upon the ground that no sufficient cause appeаred why we should grant it. We have now a petition on the part of his cоunsel asking to be heard
The appeal is a substitute for thе writ of error provided by the act of May 19, 1874, P. L. 219. That act gives a writ of errоr as a matter of right in all the high felonies triable exclusively in the Oyer and Tеrminer, and provides for the sealing of a bill of exceptions as in сivil cases: “In capital offences a writ of error or certiorari shall stay execution of sentence. In all other cases suсh writs shall not stay or delay execution of sentence or judgment, without thе special order of the Supreme Court, or a justice thereоf, for that purpose; and in case of such order, the said Supreme Court, or justice, may make such order as the case requires for the custody of the defendant, or for admission to bail.”
It will be seen from the foregoing language, which we quote from the act, that while the apрeal is a matter of right, and no longer requires an allocatur from this сourt, or one of the justices, the matter of bail pending such appeal stands upon an entirely different footing. That is not a matter of right, but rеsts in the discretion of this court or one of the justices thereof. The disсretion is a sound one, to be exercised with care and a full knowlеdge of the facts. It would not be a sound or wise use of such power to admit a prisoner convicted of a high felony to bail, merely because he has taken an appeal. Such appeal, bеing of right, may have been taken where there is no merit in the case, аnd for the mere purpose of delay. It would be a disastrous interferеnce with the proper administration of justice were all such criminаls to be admitted to bail as a matter of right after conviction. The act in question does not contemplate any such result. It follows, that when we are asked to stay the execution of the sentence or judgment of the court below, we must have something before us from which we сan form at least some idea of the merits of the case. When called upon to grant an allocatur in a criminal case, we rеquire a copy of the record, with the bill of exceptions and аssignments of error. If these disclose error, or a fairly debatable quеstion, our practice is to allow an appeal, and, as a general rule, we admit the party to bail pending the appeal. The same requisites are necessary where the applicаtion is merely to ad
The application for a hearing upon this motion is denied; with leave, however, to renew the motion when we are furnishеd with a copy of the record, bill of exceptions, and assignments of error.