Court Opinion

ID: 6911969
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-07-23 22:26:01.033014+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:06:32.165415
License: Public Domain

BIGGS, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
On reviewing the record in this case I cannot avoid an abiding conviction that the judicial process under which Darcy *517was tried was so distorted by circumstances, both in and out of the courtroom, as to result in fundamental unfairness. The brutal crime committed by Darcy, Foster, Zeitz and Capone had angered the citizens of Bucks County. By editorials, news stories and comments the press prejudged Darcy’s case and prejudiced the minds of the citizenry against him. I cannot believe that all members of the jury remained uninfluenced by these publications.
Though Darcy had been granted a separate trial pursuant to the Pennsylvania Act of March 31, 1860, 19 P.S.Pa. § 785, the severance was rendered worthless when his trial was proceeded with only three days after that of Foster and Zeitz. Under the circumstances a change of venue or a delay in putting Darcy on trial was requisite to fairness.
Judge Boyer’s preoccupation with Darcy’s trial was intense. He had been on the bench for many years and was a man of great weight in the community. He had complimented the jury at the close of the trial of Foster and Zeitz for imposing the death penalty and this fact had been widely publicized immediately preceding the commencement of Darcy’s trial. From his repeated visits to and his behavior in the courtroom the members of the Darcy jury, with reason, could have inferred that he desired to indicate his belief and his desire that Darcy, like Foster and Zeitz, should be found guilty and that the penalty of death should be imposed upon him by the jury: that such was the belief and the desire of the judicial authorities of Bucks County. Though in theory a judge does not control the decisions of juries, judicial attitudes have great influence on jurors. Fairness cannot condone Judge Boyer’s conduct.
The foregoing amounts to a denial of due process. A writ of habeas corpus should issue in this case and Darcy should be granted a new trial. The grant of the writ will not prevent him from being tried again for he cannot successfully plead double jeopardy.