Opinion
June 11, 1962.
September 13, 1962.
Criminal Law — Sodomy — Evidence — Sufficiency — Witness — Competency of child nine years old — Flight of defendant.
On appeal by defendant following conviction before the court sitting without a jury, on an indictment charging sodomy, in which it appeared that at the trial, prior to being permitted to testify as to the offenses charged, the minor prosecutrix, a female child aged nine, was examined and gave answers in her voir dire which the court below found fully demonstrated her ability to tell the difference between truth and falsehood, and that the child's subsequent testimony was clear and succinct, and not shaken by cross-examination; that there was evidence that defendant left his home after the occurrence complained of, remaining in hiding for two months and was finally apprehended hiding under a bed in another residence; and that the court below, concluding that defendant's contentions that (1) the minor prosecutrix should have been declared incompetent as a witness, and (2) that the evidence submitted on behalf of the Commonwealth was not sufficient to sustain the guilty verdict, refused defendant's motion for new trial and in arrest of judgment; it was Held that the judgment of the court below should be affirmed.
Before RHODES, P.J., ERVIN, WRIGHT, WOODSIDE, WATKINS, MONTGOMERY, and FLOOD, JJ.
Appeal, No. 106, Oct. T., 1962, from judgment of Court of Quarter Sessions of Philadelphia County, May T., 1961, Nos. 2363, 2364, 2365, and 2366, in case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Eddie Logan. Judgment affirmed.
Same case in court below: 28 Pa. D. C. 2d 36.
Indictment charging defendant with indecent assault, corrupting morals of a minor, sodomy and aggravated assault and battery with intent to ravish. Before SPORKIN, J.
Verdict of guilty and judgment of sentence entered thereon. Defendant appealed.
Cecil B. Moore, for appellant.
Burton Satzberg, Assistant District Attorney, with him Arlen Specter, Assistant District Attorney, Paul M. Chalfin, First Assistant District Attorney, and James C. Crumlish, Jr., District Attorney, for Commonwealth, appellee.
Argued June 11, 1962.
Judgment of sentence of the court below is affirmed on the opinion of Judge SPORKIN for the court below, as reported in 28 Pa. D. C.2d 36.