# Commonwealth v. Clayton

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · October 15, 1987 · 516 Pa. 263

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9761772

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Willie CLAYTON, Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** October 15, 1987
- **Citations:** 516 Pa. 263; 532 A.2d 385; 1987 Pa. LEXIS 794
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by McDERMOTT
- **Judges:** Flaherty, Hutchinson, Larsen, McDERMOTT, McDermott, Nix, Papadakos, Zappala
- **Cited by:** 39 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9761772

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that prosecutor’s comment that people sentenced to life imprisonment do not always spend the rest of their lives in jail was proper response to defense counsel’s factually misleading statements on commutations
- finding factual similarities sufficient for admission of evidence of prior crimes demonstrating identity and common scheme

## Opinion text

McDERMOTT, Justice, dissenting.
I am obliged to dissent. I believe that under the facts here appellant was entitled to have the jury charged on the ancient juridical principle that since one is presumed innocent an inference which posits either guilt or innocence must be drawn in favor of the accused.
I am not persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt that its omission was harmless.

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9761772. Public record. Not legal advice.