Title: Com. v. Whiting
Citation: 462 A.2d 218, 501 Pa. 465
Docket Number: N/A
State: Pennsylvania
Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Date: July 8, 1983

501 Pa. 465 (1983) 462 A.2d 218 COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Anthony WHITING, Appellant. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Argued April 25, 1983. Decided July 8, 1983. *466 John W. Packel, Chief, Appeals Div., Leonard Sosnou, Philadelphia, for appellant. Robert B. Lawler, Chief, Appeals Div., Steven Cooperstein, Asst. Dist. Attys., for appellee. Before ROBERTS, C.J., and NIX, LARSEN, FLAHERTY, McDERMOTT, HUTCHINSON and ZAPPALA, JJ. LARSEN, Justice. On November 17, 1973, appellant Anthony Whiting was convicted by a jury of rape, burglary, robbery, assault, extortion and terroristic threats. Post-verdict motions were denied and appellant was sentenced to a term of imprisonment of five to ten years. On appeal, the Superior Court affirmed. Commonwealth v. Whiting, 278 Pa.Super. 519, 420 A.2d 662 (1980). We granted appellant's petition for allowance of appeal and we now reverse. Appellant contends that the trial judge committed reversible error during his charge to the jury when he expressed his *467 personal opinion as to the credibility of the complainant and appellant's alibi witnesses. At the close of the trial, the judge instructed the jury, in pertinent part, as follows: (Emphasis supplied.) Commonwealth v. Whitfield, 474 Pa. 27, 34-35, 376 A.2d 617, 621 (1977). See also Commonwealth v. Archambault, 448 Pa. 90, 290 A.2d 72 (1972); ABA Standards for Criminal Justice 15-3.8(a) (1980) ("The trial judge should not express or otherwise indicate to the jury his or her personal opinion whether the defendant is guilty or express an opinion that certain testimony is worthy or unworthy of belief."). In this case, the trial judge did not simply instruct the jury on the law, nor did he simply review the testimony for the jury. Rather, he offered his opinion to the jury that the complainant was a truthful witness, and that the version of events to which appellant's alibi witnesses testified was highly improbable. Such partiality on the part of the trial judge is impermissible. We recognize that "[e]rror cannot be predicated on isolated excerpts of the charge. It is the general effect of the charge that controls." Commonwealth v. Woodward, 483 Pa. 1, 4, 394 A.2d 508, 510 (1978). Nevertheless, we have concluded that the impact of the opinions offered by the trial judge in this case that the complainant was truthful and credible, and that the testimony of appellant's alibi witnesses was highly suspect far outweighed the impact of any general instructions given by the trial judge informing the jury that it was responsible for the resolution of all factual conflicts and determinations as to the credibility of witnesses. See Archambault, supra, 448 Pa. at 96, 290 A.2d *470 at 75 (cautionary instructions that the jury is the final arbiter of the verdict are insufficient to vitiate the impact of the judge's opinionated statements). The trial judge's opinionated commentary in this case invaded the province of the jury and denied appellant his right to a fair trial. Accordingly, the order of the Superior Court is reversed and the case is remanded for a new trial.[*] McDERMOTT, J., filed a dissenting opinion. McDERMOTT, Justice, dissenting. When a trial judge has repeatedly and exhaustively instructed a jury that they are the sole finders of fact and determiners of credibility, and where the charge as a whole makes this manifest, an appellate court errs in granting reversal based upon the consideration of isolated excerpts of that charge. That is the posture in which the majority is unfortunately to be found in this case. The Court should affirm appellant's convictions of rape, robbery, simple assault, terroristic threats, and burglary, upon the reasoning of the Superior Court en banc majority. Accordingly, I dissent. The controlling law was set out in Commonwealth v. Woodward, 483 Pa. 1, 394 A.2d 508 (1978). There we stated the following: 483 Pa. at 4, 394 A.2d at 510. Likewise, in Commonwealth v. Walker, 459 Pa. 12, 326 A.2d 311 (1974), we held a trial court's comments non-prejudicial where "Other portions of the charge more than adequately cautioned the jury that they were the sole judge as to credibility of witnesses and that they could convict only if they were convinced of appellant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." 459 Pa. at 16, 326 A.2d at 313. Applying that analysis to this case, it is abundantly clear that the trial court, both in the excerpts cited by the majority and throughout the charge as a whole, repeatedly and specifically instructed the jury of their function. Indeed, even the brief portion of the charge from which the majority excerpts and supplies emphases contains no fewer than six (6) reminders from judge to jury concerning their role as sole fact-finders. These repeated reminders, interspersed throughout that selfsame portion of the charge, could have had no other conceivable affect than to negate any possible adverse inference stemming from the judge's comments. If the emphasis were instead supplied to those passages (e.g., "You can determine for yourselves what her appearance was. I cannot influence you.") the charge would read quite differently. Yet, the function of a reviewing court is to emphasize neither type of particular excerpt, but rather to consider the effect of the charge as a whole. To conclude that, notwithstanding these frequent instructions, the roles of judge and jury became hopelessly tangled, is to denigrate the ability and intelligence of both. The portions of the charge cited by the majority themselves contain more than adequate antidote to purge any ills engendered thereby. Taken together with the rest of the charge, and considering the charge as a whole, as we must, I have no doubt that the trial court and Superior Court analyzed this issue accurately. We should affirm. [*] Because of our resolution of this issue, we need not consider the remaining issues raised by appellant, namely: 1) that appellant was denied a fair trial because of the trial judge's erroneous evidentiary rulings; and 2) that the trial judge erred in not granting a mistrial after the Commonwealth elicited testimony concerning appellant's silence at the time of his arrest.