J-S63029-19

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

v.

ELISABETH HALPERT 

Appellant

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 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF

 PENNSYLVANIA

 No. 1682 EDA 2019

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered June 7, 2019

In the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County Criminal Division at 

No(s): CP-09-SA0000230-2019

BEFORE: GANTMAN, P.J.E., MURRAY, J., and STRASSBURGER, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY MURRAY, J.: FILED DECEMBER 05, 2019

Elisabeth Halpert (Appellant) appeals from the judgment of sentence 

imposed after the trial court convicted her of failing to comply with duties at 

a stop sign, a summary offense, pursuant to 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3323(b). Upon 

review, we affirm. 

On October 24, 2018, Appellant was involved in a two-vehicle accident 

at the intersection of South Oxford Valley Road and Saxony Drive in Bristol 

Township. Trial Court Opinion, 7/5/19, at 1. As a result, Appellant was 

charged with the above-offense. Id. 

Appellant was found guilty by a magisterial district judge on April 16, 

2019. Id. On April 22, 2019, Appellant filed a notice of summary appeal with 

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* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
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the trial court. At the conclusion of a de novo trial, the trial court found 

Appellant guilty of violating Section 3323(b). N.T., 6/7/19, at 65.

Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal. Appellant filed a concise 

statement of errors complained of on appeal on July 1, 2019, and the trial 

court filed its opinion on July 5, 2019. Appellant presents a single issue for 

our review: 

[1.] Where the evidence does not prove [Appellant’s] culpability 

beyond a reasonable doubt must the matter be reversed? 

Appellant’s Brief at 6. 

Initially, we note that both the trial court and the Commonwealth assert

that Appellant waived her sole issue on appeal for failure to comply with 

Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 1925. See Trial Court Opinion, 

7/5/19, at 2-4; Commonwealth Brief at 8-11. Specifically, the Commonwealth

argues that Appellant’s concise statement is too lengthy and/or redundant. 

See id. at 8 (alleging Appellant’s concise statement “fails to comply with 

Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b)[(4)](iv).”). Upon review, we decline to find waiver. 

The Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure provide that a concise 

statement, “should not be redundant or provide lengthy explanations as to 

any error.” Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b)(4)(iv). “Our law makes it clear that Pa.R.A.P. 

1925(b) is not satisfied by filing any statement. Rather, the statement must 

be ‘concise’ and coherent as to permit the trial court to understand the specific 

issues being raised on appeal.” Commonwealth v. Vurimindi, 200 A.3d 

1031, 1038 (Pa. Super. 2018) (citation omitted). 
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Although Appellant’s concise statement is lengthy and contains 

argument more appropriately raised in an appellate brief, it sets forth the error 

Appellant intended to assert on appeal: a sufficiency of the evidence claim 

with regard to her conviction. See Appellant’s Concise Statement, 7/1/19, at 

2 (“Was the verdict rendered supported by the sufficiency of the evidence.”). 

Further, as required for the preservation of a sufficiency claim, Appellant

identifies the specific element she maintains the evidence was insufficient to 

support. See id. at 4 (“The trial court erred in convicting Appellant under 75 

Pa.C.S.A. [§] 3323(b) for failing to stop at a stop sign because there was no 

evidence presented that she had not yielded the right-of-way.”); see also

Commonwealth v. Gibbs, 981 A.2d 274, 281 (Pa. Super. 2009) (“[T]he 

[a]ppellant’s 1925 statement must specify the element or elements upon 

which the evidence was insufficient in order to preserve the issue for appeal.”) 

(citations omitted). 

While lengthy, Appellant’s concise statement, as the trial court 

concedes, properly identifies the issue she wishes to raise on appeal, and we 

therefore decline to find waiver.

1

 See Trial Court Opinion, 7/5/19, at 4 (“The 

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1 The Commonwealth also argues that this Court should find waiver because,

in her concise statement, Appellant cites to the notes of testimony from her 

hearing before the magisterial district judge rather than her trial at the 

common pleas level. See Commonwealth Brief at 9. However, we do not find 

waiver because Rule 1925 makes any citation to pertinent authorities and/or 

record citations in a concise statement optional. See Pa.R.A.P. 

1925(b)(4)(ii) (“The judge shall not require the citation to authorities or the 

record; however, appellant may choose to include pertinent authorities and 
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only issue that [Appellant] apparently raises on appeal that we can glean from 

her the [sic] Brief/Concise Statement is whether the verdict was supported by 

sufficient evidence.”); see also Vurimindi, 200 A.3d at 1039 (“We recognize 

that not all lengthy 1925(b) statements require dismissal of the appeal.”). 

Accordingly, we turn to the merits of Appellant’s sufficiency claim. 

The standard we apply in reviewing the sufficiency of the 

evidence is whether viewing all the evidence admitted at trial in 

the light most favorable to the verdict winner, there is sufficient 

evidence to enable the fact-finder to find every element of the 

crime beyond a reasonable doubt. In applying the above test, we 

may not weigh the evidence and substitute our judgment for [that 

of] the fact-finder. In addition, we note that the facts and 

circumstances established by the Commonwealth need not 

preclude every possibility of innocence. Any doubts regarding a 

defendant’s guilt may be resolved by the fact-finder unless the 

evidence is so weak and inconclusive that as a matter of law no 

probability of fact may be drawn from the combined 

circumstances. The Commonwealth may sustain its burden of 

proving every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt by 

means of wholly circumstantial evidence. Moreover, in applying 

the above test, the entire record must be evaluated and all 

evidence actually received must be considered. Finally, the trier 

of fact while passing upon the credibility of witnesses and the 

weight of the evidence produced, is free to believe all, part or none 

of the evidence.

Commonwealth v. Leaner, 202 A.3d 749, 768 (Pa. Super. 2019) (citation 

omitted). To reiterate, the trial court, as the trier of fact—while passing on 

the credibility of the witnesses and the weight of the evidence—is free to 

believe all, part, or none of the evidence. Commonwealth v. Melvin, 103 

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record citations in the Statement.”). Additionally, Appellant’s notice of appeal 

correctly states the appeal is from the trial court’s June 7, 2019 order. 

See Appellant’s Notice of Appeal, 6/12/19, at *1. 
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A.3d 1, 39 (Pa. Super. 2014) (citation omitted). In conducting review, the 

appellate court may not weigh the evidence and substitute its judgment for 

the fact-finder. Id. at 39-40. 

Appellant contends that her conviction of failing to obey her duties at a 

stop sign is not supported by the evidence. Appellant maintains that the 

Commonwealth did not provide “evidence that it was not safe for [Appellant] 

to pull out to the extent she did,” and that, “[t]he mere happening of the crash 

is not sufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” Appellant’s 

Brief at 14. She further argues that the Commonwealth did not prove beyond 

a reasonable doubt that she “failed to slowly pull forward” as required by 

Section 3323(b). Id. at 16. We disagree.

Section 3323(b) provides that a person commits a summary offense if 

they fail to obey the following:

Except when directed to proceed by a police officer or 

appropriately attired persons authorized to direct, control or 

regulate traffic, every driver of a vehicle approaching a stop sign 

shall stop at a clearly marked stop line or, if no stop line is present, 

before entering a crosswalk on the near side of the intersection 

or, if no crosswalk is present, then at the point nearest the 

intersecting roadway where the driver has a clear view of 

approaching traffic on the intersecting roadway before entering. 

If, after stopping at a crosswalk or clearly marked stop line, 

a driver does not have a clear view of approaching traffic, 

the driver shall after yielding the right-of-way to any 

pedestrian in the crosswalk slowly pull forward from the 

stopped position to a point where the driver has a clear 

view of approaching traffic. The driver shall yield the rightof-way to any vehicle in the intersection or approaching on 

another roadway so closely as to constitute a hazard during 

the time when the driver is moving across or within the 

intersection or junction of roadways and enter the 
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intersection when it is safe to do so.

75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3323(b) (emphasis added). 

In addressing Appellant’s sufficiency claim, the trial court explained:

The driver of the other vehicle, Jessica Novak ([] “Novak”) 

testified her vehicle, a black Jeep, had been proceeding in the left 

lane northbound on Oxford Valley Road, approaching Saxony 

Drive when [Appellant’s] vehicle “pulled out in front of me.” In an 

attempt to avoid a collision, with the apparently left-turning 

vehicle, Novak braked and veered left. However, Novak was 

unable to avoid [Appellant’s] encroaching [] vehicle, later 

identified as a 2019 silver Dodge sedan. The photograph shown 

to Novak and entered on the record at the de novo trial as “Exhibit 

C-2” depicts the damage to the front right passenger portion of 

Novak’s jeep. Also identified by Novak, and later Officer 

Kitchenman as “Exhibit C-3”[,] was a photograph that showed 

debris from Novak’s Jeep on the roadway. The debris field was in 

the center turning lane and in the two lanes of opposing traffic. 

Novak further testified that [Appellant’s] car “had just pulled out 

straight across my lane . . . .” This [c]ourt found the testimony 

of Novak to be credible. 

[Appellant] testified that she “stopped at the stop sign. And 

then because the truck was parked there (in the right northbound 

lane) I just inched my way out very slowly to make the left-hand 

turn.” She averred “I don’t remember the accident.” On [crossexamination, Appellant] said “I was T-boned on the side of my 

driver’s side door.[”]

Officer Patrick Kitchenman, of the Bristol Township Police, a 

trained crash reconstructionist, testified at 3:18 p.m., he was 

called to the scene. He described the area of where the crash 

occurred as “a T-intersection. Saxony Drive comes out—it’s a 

minor road coming out on the major road of Levittown Parkway. 

Levittown Parkway at that point is two lanes in each direction with 

a turning lane in the center.” When the [c]ourt inquired for the 

record, “is Levittown Parkway the same as South Oxford Valley 

Road?”[,] the Officer responded, “yes, Your Honor. It changes 

name right at the intersection.”

Officer Kitchenman further testified that “where the 

[Appellant’s] vehicle came to a rest would not have been a natural 
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resting place from that collision. It would have been driven there. 

So an assumption would be that [Appellant] had her foot on the 

accelerator at some point to move her car from [the] scene of the 

crash to where it actually came to a final rest.” 

On cross, the Officer testified that “the collision point where 

the impact happened was on the left front of [Appellant’s] car . . 

. meaning that [Appellant’s] vehicle was fully into Ms. Novak’s lane 

of travel northbound on the parkway there, yes. So she had to be 

fully out there. So if she was inching out there I would have 

expected a front swipe or something similar to that.” Continuing,

he testified “but in this case the car was fully out there, meaning 

there was no inching involved unless you can say that the Jeep 

was going some excessive rate of speed, but the damage doesn’t 

indicate that and the testimony does not. . . .”

We found the testimony of Officer Kitchenman and Ms. 

Novak credible. The portion of [Appellant’s] testimony where she 

said that her vehicle was T-boned in the driver’s side door and 

that she did not remember the accident was also consistent with 

the other evidence. We found her testimony that she was inching 

out totally lacking in credibility and completely contradicted by 

both the physical evidence and the credible testimony of the other 

witnesses. 

Persuasive to this [c]ourt is the physical evidence and the 

testimony, which shows an impact well into the left travel lane in 

which Novak’s car possessed the right of way. In fact the evidence 

showed that it was almost in the center turning lane. From 

[Appellant’s] driver’s side door to have been hit in that location, 

the front of her car had to be completely through both the right 

and left northbound travel[] lanes and actually into the center 

turning lane. This evidence persuades the [c]ourt that [Appellant] 

did not, after observing the obstruction, slowly pull forward to 

where she had a clear view of approaching traffic. Rather, 

[Appellant], after initially stopping and observing the obstructed 

view, pulled into the roadway, heedless of traffic which possessed 

the right-of-way.

Further evidence of this was the fact that the final resting 

point of Ms. Novak’s vehicle was in the grass across both of the 

southbound travel lanes and the final resting point of [Appellant’s] 

vehicle was off the northbound side of the road over 50 yards 

north of the point of impact. We found that the only way for that 
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to have happened was if [Appellant] was accelerating through the 

intersection, the impact caused her vehicle to rotate close to 120 

degrees and continue to accelerate until finally coming to a rest 

where it did.

Trial Court Opinion, 7/5/19, at 5-6 (citations to notes of testimony omitted, 

underlining in original).

The record supports the trial court’s reasoning. For example, Ms. Novak 

testified that she was driving her vehicle on Oxford Valley Road when 

Appellant’s vehicle “pulled out in front of” her at the road’s intersection. N.T., 

6/7/19, at 4-5. Novak further testified that from where Appellant’s vehicle 

came to a stop after the collision, it was if “she was continuing to try to merge 

into the other side of traffic,” and Appellant could not have been slowly pulling 

forward because “her car was directly in front of me at the time of the impact.” 

Id. at 18, 22.

Officer Kitchenman testified that a stop sign exists at the end of Saxony 

Drive where it intersects with Oxford Valley Road. Id. at 38. Officer 

Kitchenman further testified that because there was a stop sign at the 

intersection, Appellant was required to yield to oncoming traffic, and 

therefore, “because of the fact of the collision, clearly she did not yield to 

oncoming traffic.” Id. at 46. Officer Kitchenman opined that Appellant’s car 

was “[f]ully into Ms. Novak’s lane of travel northbound on [Oxford Valley 

Road],” and stated:

[I]t’s required by law at a stop sign to yield to oncoming traffic 

when proceeding out into an intersection after a stop sign. In 

order to yield, you have to allow for them to go first. [Ms. Novak] 
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had the right-of-way on [Oxford Valley Road]. That clearly didn’t 

happen because [Appellant’s] car was right in front of a vehicle 

that ended up crashing into her despite taking an evasive 

maneuver to avoid the crash. So it wasn’t that the [Appellant’s] 

vehicle inched out. The vehicle was fully out into that lane such 

that a maneuver to the left did not avoid a collision, that there 

was still a crash. 

Id. at 42, 48-49. 

Appellant testified that she stopped at the stop sign, inched her way out 

“very slowly to make the left-hand turn,” and had no recollection of the 

collision with Ms. Novak. N.T., 6/7/19, at 50. When questioned as to where

her vehicle was struck by Ms. Novak’s, Appellant testified that “she was Tboned on the side of my door.” Id. at 53. 

As stated above, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the 

Commonwealth as verdict winner, and give deference to the trial court’s 

credibility determinations as the finder of fact. Leaner, 202 A.3d at 768;

Melvin, 103 A.3d at 39. We thus discern no reason to disturb the trial court’s 

determination that Appellant was guilty of violating Section 3323(b), where 

the court was free to discredit portions of Appellant’s testimony, and credit 

the testimony of Ms. Novak and Officer Kitchenman, which supported the 

court’s determination that Appellant “failed to yield the right-of-way to any 

vehicle in the intersection or approaching on another roadway” in violation of 

75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3323(b).

Judgment of sentence affirmed. 
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Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.

Prothonotary

Date: 12/5/19