Court Opinion

ID: 9698252
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:45:46.152001+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:39.666097
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by
Wright, P. J.:
In my view, this case of simple assault and battery was properly disposed of in the court below. As pointed out by President Judge Atkins, the purported error in the charge “was not assigned as a reason in support of either motion nor was it the subject of an objection at trial, notwithstanding an invitation to counsel at the conclusion of the charge to request any further instruction or to object to any that had been given”.
Pa. R. Crim. P. 1119(b) expressly provides as follows : “No portions of the charge nor omissions therefrom may be assigned as error, unless specific objections are made thereto before the jury retires to deliberate”. The trial in the instant case took place on May 13, 1969, subsequent to the adoption of the rule which became effective August 1, 1968. As the majority concedes, the rule does not contain any exception for so-called basic or fundamental error.