Opinion ID: 2365503
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Evidence was Insufficient to Support Appellant's Conviction.

Text: The evidence presented at trial, viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, was as follows: The bodies of John Gorey and Rita Janda were discovered on June 18, 1966, in Gorey's office in the Headquarters of Teamsters Union Local 107. Both had been shot several times. The Commonwealth established that two weapons had been used in the homicides, that the wounds inflicted were the cause of death, and that the time of death was sometime in the early evening of June 17, 1966. The Commonwealth's most important witness was Francis J. McGrath, a janitor at the local and a member of the union. McGrath arrived at the local's office building at about 6:00 p.m. While outside the building, McGrath saw Sullivan looking out a window of an office Sullivan usually did not use. McGrath entered the building and began cleaning. In the course of his chores, he entered the office in which Sullivan was seated. Sullivan asked McGrath why he was working on Friday, McGrath's day off, and told him to defer his cleaning duties until after a union meeting scheduled for that Sunday so that the building would be clean for the opening of business on Monday. McGrath ignored the advice and continued his activities. About 6:15 p.m., McGrath re-entered the office in which Sullivan was seated to empty some trash cans, and he and Sullivan observed Gorey and Janda arrive at the building. McGrath began cleaning the local's conference room. Gorey entered the room, exchanged a few words with the janitor and left. A few minutes later Sullivan entered the conference room using the same door through which Gorey had exited. Sullivan again suggested that McGrath postpone his duties until Sunday. Meanwhile, Gregory Carchidi, another janitor entered the room but exchanged no greeting with Sullivan. Carchidi also suggested that McGrath wait until Sunday to complete his chores. Shortly thereafter, Sullivan left the conference room by the same door Gorey had used. McGrath stated on cross-examination that he was unable to see whether after Sullivan left the office he proceeded down the hall toward Gorey's office or had gone in a different direction. After Carchidi again mentioned McGrath's cleaning, McGrath heard what sounded to him like a package of firecrackers going off sequentially. McGrath asked Carchidi, What was that? Carchidi replied, Get out of the building and don't say nothing. McGrath promptly left the building, stopping only to note that Sullivan's, Carchidi's, Anthony DiPasquale's and Gorey's cars were parked near the building, and to talk with a group of men standing outside the building. He returned about 15 minutes later and found that the offices had all been locked, the lights turned off and the building deserted. He removed any evidence indicating that he had been in the building and left. The Commonwealth also called Irene Glenn. Glenn testified that at about 6:15 p.m., June 17, 1966, she telephoned the union to discuss the local's efforts to organize the company at which she was employed. She testified that the man who spoke to her identified himself as Gorey. The prosecutor played a tape recording of Gorey's voice for her but she was unable to identify the recorded voice as the one she had heard on the telephone. She did not testify that Sullivan's voice was the one she heard on the telephone. The Commonwealth introduced into evidence a piece of paper found in a waste paper basket upon which Glenn's name and phone number were written in Sullivan's handwriting. Further evidence was introduced which showed that during the investigation, Sullivan denied that he was in the building at the time of the murder. The defense demurred to the Commonwealth's evidence and offered no evidence on its own. The test of the sufficiency of the evidence is whether, accepting as true all the evidence and all reasonable inferences therefrom upon which if believed the jury could have based its verdict, it is sufficient in law to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of the crime for which he has been convicted. Commonwealth v. McFadden, 448 Pa. 277, 281, 292 A.2d 324, 326 (1972); see e.g., Commonwealth v. Murray, 460 Pa. 605, 608, 334 A.2d 255, 257 (1975). Here, the Commonwealth relies totally on circumstantial evidence. Of course, circumstantial evidence in itself may be sufficient to establish both the commission of a crime and the accused's participation if the inferences arising from the evidence establish these facts beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Cox, 460 Pa. 566, 333 A.2d 917 (1975); Commonwealth v. Alston, 461 Pa. 664, 337 A.2d 597 (1975). However, a conviction based on suspicion and conjecture cannot stand. Commonwealth v. Garrett, 423 Pa. 8, 222 A.2d 902 (1968); Commonwealth v. Clinton, 391 Pa. 212, 218-19, 137 A.2d 463, 466 (1958). The Commonwealth argues that from the evidence adduced at trial the jury could infer that Sullivan was in the building at the time of the killing, that he sat by the window watching for Gorey and Janda to arrive, and that there were only two other people, Carchidi and McGrath in the building at the time of the killing. Furthermore, the Commonwealth urges that the evidence that Sullivan left the building shortly after the shooting and that he denied to the police that he was present in the building show that he tried to conceal his knowledge of the crime and this supports an inference of guilt. I cannot agree with the majority that the evidence and the inferences the Commonwealth seeks to draw from it are sufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that Sullivan was guilty of murder. [1] To convict, the jury would have to believe that after leaving the conference room, Sullivan followed Gorey into his office and then took part in the murders. [2] The police department laboratory technicians were unable to uncover any of the scientific evidence that is often used to prove circumstantially that the accused committed the crime. The murder weapons were never discovered and thus there was no evidence indicating that they had ever been in Sullivan's possession. No fingerprints, shreds of clothing, or other physical evidence were found in the room where the murder occurred which could support an inference that Sullivan had been in the room when the murders were committed. Finally, nothing found on Sullivan's person or effects afford an inference that he was present. Compare Commonwealth v. Dawson, 464 Pa. 254, 346 A.2d 545 (1975) (Eagen, J.); [3] Commonwealth v. Kravitz, 400 Pa. 198, 161 A.2d 861 (1960). Furthermore, many of the inferences the Commonwealth urges that the jury could have drawn are either based on no evidence at all, or are so conjectural that they cannot support a conviction. The Commonwealth places great weight on the fact that besides Gorey and Janda, McGrath saw only Carchidi and Sullivan in the building prior to the shooting. However, the record reveals that at the time of the murder the doors to the building were unlocked, that at a time shortly after the shooting several persons were standing outside the building, and that persons could enter the building without being seen by McGrath. There is no evidence that McGrath looked in every office in the building while he was cleaning, and it thus is entirely possible that there were others in the building when McGrath entered. In these circumstances mere presence in the office building is insufficient to support an inference of guilt. Commonwealth v. Garrett, 423 Pa. 8, 222 A.2d 902 (1968). Moreover, flight from the scene of a crime is not enough to prove complicity. Commonwealth v. Bailey, 448 Pa. 224, 292 A.2d 345 (1972). Flight is just as consistent with fear as with guilt, id., and appellant's flight consisted of no more than leaving the building, as did others. Indeed, in this case, the very witness upon whom the Commonwealth most heavily relies fled from the scene of the crime and thereafter made careful efforts to cover up the fact that he had been in the building at the time of the shooting. Furthermore, the inference that because Sullivan was seated at the window overlooking the parking lot, he was waiting for Gorey and Janda is nothing more than speculation. I have reviewed the entire 1,300 page record of Sullivan's trial and am completely satisfied that the evidence of Sullivan's participation in the crime is either nonexistent or so weak and inconclusive that as a matter of law the inferences of fact necessary to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt could not be reasonably drawn. In this case, the pyramiding of inferences, many of which were of dubious probability in the first place, made impermissible a finding by the jury that, beyond a reasonable doubt, Sullivan committed the crimes charged. The evidence was insufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The judgments of sentence should be reversed and appellant should be discharged.