Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Jamel Clay, Appellee Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Jason Sale Claybrook, Appellee…

Summary

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held that the Superior Court applied an incorrect standard of review when it reversed the trial court's denial of the appellees' motion for a new trial based on a claim that the verdicts were against the weight of the evidence. Rather than determining whether the trial court abused its discretion, the Superior Court re-weighed the evidence and substituted its own conclusion that the guilty verdicts should 'shock the conscience.' Because appellate review of a weight claim is a review of the trial court's exercise of discretion — not of the underlying verdict — the Court reversed and remanded to the Superior Court for reconsideration under the proper abuse-of-discretion standard, declining to reach the Commonwealth's two remaining issues.