Opinion ID: 2319241
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Evidence of Appellant's Guilty Plea to the Nichols Homicide

Text: Appellant next contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a mistrial when, after being warned by the trial court against attempting to introduce evidence of Appellant's guilty plea to the Nichols homicide in Indiana County, the prosecutor twice mentioned the same. See Appellant's Brief at 24 (Argument III). A mistrial is an extreme remedy that is required only where the challenged event deprived the accused of a fair and impartial trial. Laird, 605 Pa. at 170, 988 A.2d at 638. We review the denial of a mistrial under the abuse of discretion standard. Id. The basis of Appellant's claim is the November 7, 1996 order by the Honorable Alan N. Bloch of the United States District Court for the Western District, which was issued at the conclusion of the hearing on Appellant's habeas petition: IT IS ORDERED that the petition for writ of habeas corpus filed by Michael Travaglia is granted and that he is to be discharged from custody unless, within one-hundred twenty days, the County of Westmoreland holds a resentencing hearing at which evidence of his Indiana County guilty plea is excluded. Order, Civil Action No. 90-1469, 11/7/96, at 1. The impact of the above order was the subject of sidebar discussion at Appellant's sentencing hearing. The trial court determined that the order precluded evidence of Appellant's guilty plea to the Nichols homicide, but not evidence of the facts and circumstances surrounding the homicide. N.T. Trial, 7/5/05-7/26/05, at 527. Subsequently, however, the prosecutor argued that evidence of Appellant's guilty plea to the Nichols homicide was precluded only if introduced as an aggravating circumstance. Id. at 532. The trial court disagreed, and instructed the prosecutor not to mention Appellant's guilty plea. Id. at 540-41. Thereafter, on two occasions, the prosecutor asked two of Appellant's character witnesses, Ruth Ellis Gamble and Ruth Miller, whether they knew that Appellant had been convicted in Indiana County for the murder of William Nichols. On both occasions, trial counsel objected and requested a mistrial, but the trial court denied the request. In its opinion and order, the trial court acknowledged there was some confusion and/or disagreement regarding the impact of the federal court order, but concluded, after reviewing the order, that it properly denied Appellant's motions for a mistrial: The first page of the Federal Court Recommendation[ [9] ] indicates that at the new sentencing trial that evidence of the Defendant's guilty plea in reference to the [Nichols'] homicide is to be excluded. . . . This would appear to support the Defendant's argument that there was to be no mention of said plea. However, the Defendant sought relief from the Federal Court because at his original sentencing his plea to the [Nichols'] homicide was used as an aggravating factor in violation of an agreement that if he pled guilty to [Nichols'] homicide, the plea could not be used as an aggravating circumstance in the present case. Thus, it was because the guilty plea in reference to the [Nichols'] homicide was presented as an aggravating factor the Federal Court granted the Defendant relief by vacating the original sentence and ordering a new sentencing trial. Trial Court Opinion, 10/11/07, at 8-9. The trial court acknowledged that the federal order did not address specifically the issue of whether the Commonwealth could question Appellant's character references regarding their knowledge of Appellant's guilty plea, but noted that the Superior Court previously ruled the Commonwealth was entitled to present evidence of Appellant's prior convictions, including his guilty pleas, if Appellant presented testimony in support of his good character. Id. at 10 (citing Commonwealth v. Travaglia, 792 A.2d 1261 (Pa.Super.2002)). Appellant, conversely, asserts that the language of the federal order is broad, and, as a result, does not link exclusion of evidence of his guilty plea to the Nichols homicide solely to the Commonwealth's attempt to prove aggravating circumstances. Although the federal court order does not, on its face, link the preclusion of evidence of Appellant's guilty plea to the Nichols homicide to an attempt by the Commonwealth to establish aggravating factors, the Report and Recommendation by Magistrate Judge Robert C. Mitchell, which was adopted by Judge Bloch as the opinion in support of his November 7, 1996 order, suggests otherwise. The Report and Recommendation specifically indicates that the understanding between the parties, including the prosecutor and the Indiana County Court of Common Pleas trial judge, was that until sentence was imposed the conviction was not final and could not be introduced as an aggravating factor in the Westmoreland County proceedings. Report and Recommendation, 10/7/96, at 15 n. 7 (emphasis added). As a result, we decline to hold that the trial court, in ruling on the mistrial motion, erred in concluding that the federal order precluded evidence of Appellant's guilty plea to the Nichols homicide only where such evidence was introduced to prove aggravating circumstances. Thus, while, in raising the Nichols plea, the Commonwealth seemingly violated the trial court's earlier ruling precluding it from doing just that, we conclude the trial court did not err in denying a mistrial on that basis. That is, we agree the evidence introduced at trial did not run afoul of the federal court order. Moreover, when the defense presents evidence of a defendant's reputation for peacefulness, the prosecution is permitted to test that testimony by inquiry into whether the witness is aware of convictions which tend to refute that reputation. See Commonwealth v. Albrecht, 554 Pa. 31, 48 n. 10, 720 A.2d 693, 702 n. 10 (1998). As evidence of Appellant's guilty plea to the Nichols homicide was introduced to test the character witnesses' awareness of Appellant's criminal background, we find no error by the trial court on that basis.