Title: Com. v. Mazzoccoli
Citation: 380 A.2d 786, 475 Pa. 408
Docket Number: N/A
State: Pennsylvania
Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Date: December 23, 1977

475 Pa. 408 (1977) 380 A.2d 786 COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Howard MAZZOCCOLI, Appellant. Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Argued September 27, 1977. Decided December 23, 1977. *409 Lester G. Nauhaus, Louis R. Dadowski, Jr., Pittsburgh, for appellant. Robert E. Colville, Dist. Atty., Robert L. Eberhardt, Charles W. Johns, Asst. Dist. Attys., Robert A. Zunich, Pittsburgh, for appellee. Before EAGEN, C.J., and O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY, NIX, MANDERINO and PACKEL, JJ. O'BRIEN, Justice. Appellant, Howard Mazzoccoli, was tried by a judge and jury and was convicted of burglary, theft, theft by receiving stolen goods, and arson. Post-verdict motions were denied and appellant was sentenced to prison terms of two and one-half to five years for the burglary conviction, and two and one-half to five years for the theft conviction, and two and one-half to five years for the arson conviction. Sentence was suspended for the receiving of stolen goods conviction. The Superior Court affirmed the judgments of sentence by a per curiam order. Commonwealth v. Mazzoccoli, 238 Pa.Super. 712, 356 A.2d 830 (1976). Appellant filed a petition for allowance of appeal which the court granted on January 5, 1977. The facts are as follows. On May 18, 1974, appellant and a fifteen-year-old juvenile, Ronald Jankowski, allegedly climbed a ladder and entered a second-story window of the Acme Scale and Supply Company in the Lawrenceville section of the City of Pittsburgh. Appellant allegedly took a camera from the premises. Jankowski further testified that appellant had spilled lighter fluid throughout the building, which was damaged by fire that evening. Appellant claims that he is entitled to a new trial because the trial court abused its discretion in determining that Ronald Jankowski was competent to testify. In Commonwealth v. Ware, 459 Pa. 334, 329 A.2d 258 (1974), we held that the competency of every witness is presumed, with the *410 burden of showing incompetency on the party asserting it. When determining the testimonial competency of an infant witness: More recently, we stated: The standard of review in cases involving the competency of infants was set forth in Rosche v. McCoy, supra, 397 Pa. at 620, 156 A.2d at 310, where we stated: Our review of the record persuades us that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing Jankowski to testify because, on this record, we are convinced the witness had neither the ability to understand questions and communicate *411 intelligent answers nor a consciousness of the duty to speak the truth. At the commencement of trial, appellant's counsel sought a voir dire examination to determine the competency of Jankowski. Jankowski's response during that examination was not adequate. For example, he indicated he was in the eleventh grade at Latimer Junior High School, which only goes up to eighth grade. Furthermore, when asked specifically what the oath of a witness means, his answers were somewhat unresponsive. For example, when asked his conception of the oath, he said: On cross-examination, he was asked: The preceding portion of the voir dire examination convinced us that Jankowski did not demonstrate a consciousness of the duty to tell the truth. Further, our review of the entire record shows that Jankowski did not have the ability to understand questions and communicate intelligent answers. Most answers were simply yes or no responses to leading questions. The entire transcript reveals that most of the time Jankowski's answers could be manipulated by the question. Further, this entire testimony is fraught with inconsistencies and contradictions. Under these circumstances, we believe that the trial court abused its discretion in allowing Jankowski to testify. Appellant finally alleges that he should be discharged because the evidence, absent Jankowski's testimony, is insufficient to sustain the convictions. In Commonwealth v. Baker, supra, 466 Pa. at 483, 353 A.2d at 456, we stated ". . . in assessing the sufficiency of the evidence all evidence actually received at trial is considered whether the rulings thereon were right or wrong." Considering Jankowski's testimony, the evidence was sufficient to sustain the convictions. Judgments of sentence reversed and case remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion. POMEROY, J., files a dissenting opinion. POMEROY, Justice, dissenting. I must respectfully dissent, for I do not believe that, on the basis of the record before us, this Court can properly conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in finding that the fifteen-year-old juvenile witness, Ronald Jankowski, was incompetent to testify. The standard of review in cases involving the competency of infant witnesses is limited, and was set forth by this Court as the majority points out, in Rosche v. McCoy, as follows: My review of the record satisfies me that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in holding Ronald Jankowski competent to testify. The finding of the trial judge in a matter of this sort, based on his appraisal of the appearance and demeanor of the witness before him, should not be overturned by this Court on a cold record absent some compelling evidence of error. Such evidence is not here present, and I would affirm the judgments of sentence.