Opinion ID: 2353264
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Appellant raises two claims that implicate this court's review of the sufficiency of the evidence on direct appeal. On direct appeal, as we do in all capital cases, this Court reviewed the sufficiency of the evidence for first-degree murder. Washington, 700 A.2d at 404. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as verdict winner, we found the evidence sufficient to support the conviction. In finding the evidence sufficient, we noted that specific intent to kill may be inferred from the defendant's use of a deadly weapon upon a vital part of the victim's body. Id. (citing Commonwealth v. Michael, 544 Pa. 105, 674 A.2d 1044, 1047 (1996)). When he saw Tracey Lawson pursuing him, Appellant turned and fired, hitting Lawson in the head and killing him. We found that evidence sufficient to establish that Appellant shot Lawson with the specific intent to kill. Appellant now challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction for first-degree murder. The PCRA court rejected this claim, finding it previously litigated on direct appeal. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9543(a)(3). Rather than challenge this conclusion, Appellant argues that the evidence is insufficient because the mere fact that he shot in the victim's direction cannot rationally support an inference that he had the specific intent to kill; rather, the evidence is equally consistent with the probability that [Appellant] sought only to scare or wound the guard and stop his pursuit. Appellant's Brief at 47. Appellant argues that this Court's reliance on direct appeal on the presumption that the specific intent to kill may be inferred from the use of a deadly weapon on a vital part of the body was erroneous, and appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to contest the application of the presumption under the facts of this case. We agree with the PCRA court that this is an attempt to re-litigate the sufficiency of the evidence by attacking appellate counsel's failure to challenge the presumption of intent to kill. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9543(a)(3). We have recently held, however, that ineffectiveness claims are distinct issues from those claims raised on direct appeal and should be reviewed under the three-prong ineffectiveness standard. Commonwealth v. Collins, 585 Pa. 45, 888 A.2d 564, 573 (2005). Thus, we will analyze Appellant's claim under the rubric of appellate counsel's ineffectiveness. Doing so, we have no problem in finding that the claim lacks merit. Appellant cites no authority for the proposition that this Court had to find that he intentionally aimed at the victim's head before we could find sufficient evidence to support an inference of the specific intent to kill. To the contrary, as noted on direct appeal, the critical inquiry is the use of a deadly weapon on a vital part of the body, Washington, 700 A.2d at 404, not the intentional aiming of the weapon at a vital part of the body. See Michael, 674 A.2d at 1047 (Pa. 1996). As we made clear in Collins, although we will analyze a distinct claim of ineffectiveness that is based on the underlying issue decided on direct appeal, in many cases those claims will fail for the same reasons they failed on direct appeal. Collins, 888 A.2d at 574-75. Here, we addressed the sufficiency of the evidence on direct appeal. Appellant has not demonstrated arguable merit to his claim that, had appellate counsel advanced the present argument, we would have found the presumption of intent inapplicable to the facts of this case. Therefore, appellate counsel was not ineffective for failing to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence in this manner. May, 898 A.2d at 564 (counsel will not be deemed ineffective for failing to raise meritless claims).