Case Title: Com. v. Sangricco

Citation: 379 A.2d 1342, 475 Pa. 179

Docket Number: 

State: pennsylvania

Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Date: 1977-12-01T00:00:00Z

Document:
475 Pa. 179 (1977) 379 A.2d 1342 COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. George SANGRICCO, Appellant (two cases). Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Argued September 23, 1976. Decided December 1, 1977. *180 John H. Pope, Wendell G. Freeland, Pittsburgh, for appellant. Phillip L. Wein, Dist. Atty., Clarion, for appellee. Before JONES, C.J., and EAGEN, O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY and MANDERINO, JJ. O'BRIEN, Justice. Appellant, George Sangricco, was tried by a judge and jury and was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, a violation of the Uniform Firearms Act and aggravated assault. Appellant was sentenced to a four-to-ten year prison term for the manslaughter conviction with a concurrent one and one-half to three year term for the weapons conviction. Sentence was suspended on the assault conviction. This direct appeal followed.[1] The facts of the crime are as follows. At approximately 2:00 a.m. of August 2, 1973, the victim, Ronald Girts, died of a bullet wound to his head fired from point blank range. An ambulance was called and upon arrival the ambulance driver saw appellant attempting to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the victim. Girts was pronounced dead on arrival at the Clarion Community Hospital. *181 The Pennsylvania State Police began an investigation and interviewed both appellant and Sherilyn Girts, estranged wife of the victim. Both appellant and Ms. Girts told officers that they were in Ms. Girts' apartment when the victim arrived. They both told police that the victim had shot himself with appellant's gun. The police, however, found inconsistencies between the pair's story and the physical facts. Upon obtaining a search warrant, police administered a neutron activation analysis test which indicated that appellant had fired the weapon which was involved in the victim's death.[2] The affidavit presented to the magistrate in support of issuing the search warrant set forth: "That the boy friend has made inconsistent statements." Further, the application for the warrant set forth that the police were searching appellant and Ms. Girts for, inter alia: Appellant claims that the search warrant was issued without probable cause. Because the warrant was issued for both appellant and Ms. Girts, appellant argues that this uncertainty as to who shot the victim should have required the magistrate to refuse to issue the warrant. We do not agree. In Brinegar v. United States, 338 U.S. 160, 175-76, 69 S. Ct. 1302, 1310, 93 L. Ed. 1879 (1949), the court stated: This court stated in Commonwealth v. Thomas, 448 Pa. 42, 52, 292 A.2d 352, 357 (1972): As the affidavit set forth, only appellant, Ms. Girts, and the victim were present at the time of the shooting. The two survivors told police that the victim had shot himself. The police investigation, however, turned up physical facts that indicated that suicide was unlikely. First, while the victim was left handed, appellant and Ms. Girts told police that the victim had fired the gun with his right hand. Second, while the police were told that nothing was unusual with the victim, his face was such to indicate he may have been beaten.[3] Under these circumstances, we believe that *184 the police acted reasonably in suspecting that appellant or Ms. Girts may have been involved. We further believe that the police had knowledge of sufficient facts and circumstances to justify obtaining of the search warrant to conduct a neutron activation analysis test on both appellant and Ms. Girts.[4] In Commonwealth v. Jackson, 461 Pa. 632, 638, 337 A.2d 582, 584 (1975), we stated: We believe the affidavit contained adequate information to allow a magistrate to issue a search warrant allowing police to conduct a neutron activation analysis. Appellant makes two arguments which he believes indicates that the search warrant was erroneously issued. He first argues that nowhere in the affidavit does it indicate that a crime has been committed. In Commonwealth ex rel. Ensor v. Cummings, 416 Pa. 510, 207 A.2d 230 (1965), we held that an affidavit which fails to allege a pre-existing crime is insufficient to justify issuance of a warrant. We have indicated, however, that affidavits must be read in a commonsense manner. Commonwealth v. Greco, 465 Pa. 400, 350 A.2d 826 (1976); United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 85 S. Ct. 741, 13 L. Ed. 2d 684 (1965). The affidavit speaks of "the deceased" as a "victim of a gun shot wound". The affidavit further indicates that the police believed the suicide story was improbable. We believe a commonsense reading indicates that police believed a criminal homicide had been committed. *185 Appellant next argues that the affidavit was insufficient to justify issuance of a warrant because the affidavit contained no mention of where certain information was obtained. Appellant complains that the affidavit fails to indicate where the police obtained the following information: Again using a commonsense reading, we believe appellant's contention is without merit. In Commonwealth v. Greco, supra, 465 Pa. at 405, 350 A.2d at 828, we stated: We believe the rules governing reliability of informants are inapplicable, as no informer was involved in the instant case. It is clear that all of the questioned information was either obtained from the personal observations of the police or during interviews with appellant and Ms. Girts. On the *186 basis of this affidavit, we believe the magistrate acted correctly in issuing the search warrant. Appellant finally alleges that the trial court erred in admitting a certain statement given by appellant to the police. At the time of his arrest, appellant was given the required Miranda warnings, and was told he was under arrest for the murder of Ronald Girts. Following the required warnings, appellant admitted to unlawfully carrying a gun from Pittsburgh to the scene of the shooting. Appellant claims that his waiver of Miranda rights was ineffectual as to the gun charges, because police never informed him of those charges. In Commonwealth v. Richman, 458 Pa. 167, 175, 320 A.2d 351 (1974), we stated: It must be remembered that appellant was not arrested until forty days after the offense.[6] As the trial court stated in its opinion: *187 We agree with the trial court that the Richman mandate was complied with. Judgments of sentence affirmed. JONES, former C.J., took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. NIX, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. [1] The weapons conviction was appealed to the Superior Court, which on May 19, 1975, certified the appeal to this court. [2] Neutron Activation Analysis is a technique which, among other things, can determine if a person has recently fired a gun or handled a recently fired gun by measuring the relative concentrations of barium and antimony present on the hands. The palms and backs of the hands are tested. A positive finding on the back of the hand indicates that the suspect has fired a gun. A positive finding on the palms indicates that the suspect has handled a recently fired gun. See F. Bailey & H. Rothblatt, Investigation and Preparation of Criminal Cases, Chap. 15-A (Supp., 1975). [3] The defense, at trial, introduced testimony by Dr. Joshue Perper of the Allegheny County Coroner's Office, that the characteristics exhibited on the victim's face were consistent with the gunshot wound to the head. A Dr. James Kightlinger testified for the Commonwealth that he believed the facial markings indicated a beating. Nonetheless, we believe the police were justified in suspecting foul play when their observations indicated that the victim may have been beaten around the face. [4] The test conducted on appellant was positive on the back of his hands, indicating he had fired the gun. Ms. Girts' test produced negative results. A test was also conducted on the victim's hands but it proved inconclusive as certain chemicals applied for another test could have removed the barium and antimony, those elements which give a positive result. [5] We believe one portion of the affidavit must be stricken, i.e., that portion alleging that appellant had made inconsistent statements. The officer could have inserted these inconsistencies in the affidavit but failed to do so. We believe, nonetheless, that the omission of this item does not change our finding that probable cause existed to justify the magistrate's issuing of the search warrant. [6] This delay was occasioned by the length of time necessary to obtain results of the neutron activation analysis test.