Court Opinion

ID: 9703340
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 23:52:41.007232+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:11:09.520060
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice,
dissenting.
I dissent. There is no dispute that appellant Charles L. McGuire shot the victim in the back and caused his death. It is well established that a fact finder may infer malice from the use of a deadly weapon upon a vital part of the body. E. g., Commonwealth v. Hinchcliffe, 479 Pa. 551, 388 A.2d 1068 (1978); Commonwealth v. O’Searo, 466 Pa. 224, 352 A.2d 30 (1976). Reading all the evidence of this case in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, Commonwealth v. Ford, 472 Pa. 542, 372 A.2d 821 (1977), I must conclude that the evidence was sufficient to sustain the judge’s finding of malice.