Court Opinion

ID: 9757006
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 22:14:16.750034+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:34.037234
License: Public Domain

MANDERINO, Justice
(concurring).
I concur in the result. The evidence was sufficient to establish that the killing was “willful, deliberate and premeditated,” and, therefore, the majority was correct in sustaining appellant’s conviction of murder in the first degree. See Act of June 24, 1939, P.L. 872, § 701, as amended, 18 P.S. § 4701. The majority, however, incorrectly states that use of a deadly weapon upon a vital part of the body infers the specific intent to kill neces*450sary for murder in the first degree. Under the laws of this jurisdiction, the use of a deadly weapon upon a vital part of the body does not by itself infer that the killing was “willful, deliberate and premeditated”; it infers malice and is sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction of murder in the second degree. Commonwealth v. Roots, 452 Pa. 535, 306 A.2d 873 (1973); Commonwealth v. Robinson, 452 Pa. 316, 305 A.2d 354 (1973). In order to sustain a conviction of murder in the first degree, other facts must exist to establish that the killing was “willful, deliberate and premeditated.” See Commonwealth v. Kittreles, 465 Pa. 431, 350 A.2d 842 (1976), (Manderino dissenting joined by Roberts, J.); Commonwealth v. O’ Sear o, 466 Pa.-, 352 A.2d 30 (1976) (Manderino dissenting joined by Roberts, J.). See also, Commonwealth v. Petrakovich, 459 Pa. 511, 329 A.2d 844 (1974); Commonwealth v. Mosley, 444 Pa. 134, 279 A.2d 174 (1971).
ROBERTS, J., joins in this concurring opinion.