Commonwealth v. DeJesus

Justice NIGRO,

concurring.

I write separately merely to note that I am not convinced that the trial court’s instruction to the jury regarding the limited purposes of the testimony concerning Appellant’s possession of a sawed-off shot gun “negated” the prejudice suffered by Appellant from this testimony, which undoubtedly placed him in a bad light. See Majority Slip Op. at 10-11; see also, e.g., Commonwealth v. Richardson, 496 Pa. 521, 437 A.2d 1162, 1166 (stating that certain clearly prejudicial testimony cannot be cured by instructions) (Nix, J., dissenting); id. (same) (Roberts, J., dissenting). Nevertheless, I agree with the majority that any error in admitting this evidence was harmless in light of the overwhelming evidence of Appellant’s guilt, including, most predominantly, his own confession.