7 Pa. Super. 405 | Pa. Super. Ct. | 1898
Lead Opinion
Opiniost by
John Wallace was a street commissioner of the borough of Millvale, and John M. Graham, a contractor employed by the borough. By the direction of the borough council, they erected a steel fire alarm tower upon what was claimed to be a public street. Because of this construction they were indicted in the court of quarter sessions of Allegheny county for erecting and maintaining a public nuisance, and upon the trial a verdict of not guilty was rendered. Upon motion of the district attorney a new trial was granted. Upon the second trial the defendants pled autrefois acquit, and offered the record of the former trial, to which plea the commonwealth demurred. The court overruled the plea and directed the parties to proceed to trial upon the former plea of not guilty. A verdict of guilty was rendered. Although the record states that the court overruled the plea of autrefois acquit, we presume what is meant by that is that he sustained the demurrer. Otherwise it would be unintelligible.
The main question raised by the assignments of error and the only one necessary for our consideration is: Did the court below err in overruling the plea of autrefois acquit. There can be no doubt that in this state under the common law there can be no appeal to an appellate court where the verdict was one of not guilty. Pías any such right been conferred by statute ?
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting :
I am unable to concur in the conclusions that the court of quarter sessions may not for any cause grant a new trial after there has been a verdict of acquittal on an indictment for nuisance or forcible entry or forcible detainer. Where error of law has been committed which would be sufficient to require .the appellate court to reverse the judgment and to award a new trial, I see no good reason for holding, and know of no Pennsylvania case that requires us to hold, that the local court has not the inherent power to correct the error without compelling- the expense and the delay of an appeal.