Opinion ID: 1562759
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Jury Consideration of Work-Release Status

Text: Appellant's next claim stems from evidence of his work-release status. Over trial counsel's continuing objection, the prosecutor mentioned appellant's work-release status in his opening statement and later presented the testimony of the record supervisor at the State Correctional Institution at Greensburg who testified that appellant was on work release and was granted a furlough from the morning of Friday, January 10th to the evening of Monday, January 13, 1986. The record supervisor also testified that appellant did not arrive by his January 13th, 9:00 p.m. deadline. Susan Blackburn, appellant's friend who had dinner arrangements with appellant for that January 10th, the day of the rape and murder, testified that during the week preceding January 10th, appellant had told her that he would not be able to meet her for dinner because his furlough had not been approved. Additionally, appellant himself testified to his work-release status, noting that status on work release is very sensitive and easy to lose. N.T., 2/5/87, at 554. In the following exchange, appellant admitted to lying to Susan Blackburn about losing his furlough so that he could avoid seeing her: [Trial Counsel]: What had you told [Susan Blackburn] earlier in the week about your status over the week end [sic] and your ability to see her? Tell what you told her. [Appellant]: I had told Susan that I had to return to Greensburg. [Trial Counsel]: Why? [Appellant]: I had promised Liz [Manual] earlier to see her. I had promised Tim [McCormick] that I would spend some time with him, because he had been awarded his license. I wanted to see Diane. It was very confusing. And I simply didn't need any more of this. I lied to cover these things up and that the lie had snowballed and that's what's put me here today. Id. at 551. In its guilt phase charge, the trial court instructed the jury on its consideration of this evidence as follows: There was evidence tending to prove that the defendant was on work release. I'm speaking of the evidence introduced by the Commonwealth and the testimony of the defendant as [to] the defendant's work release from Greensburg. This evidence is not evidence of the defendant's guilt. You must not infer guilt from the evidence of work release. This evidence may be considered by you for one purpose only, that is, to help you judge the credibility and weight of the testimony given by the defendant as a witness in this trial. N.T., 2/6/87, at 749-50. Trial counsel did not object to the charge. On direct appeal, appellant claimed that the trial court erred in permitting the introduction of evidence relating to appellant's work-release status because it served no compelling purpose and was inherently prejudicial. This Court held that the trial court properly allowed the admission of appellant's work-release status for three purposes: (1) to establish his motive for the murder; (2) to demonstrate premeditation in his planning of the rape and murder; and (3) to prove consciousness of guilt through appellant's failure to return to the prison at the conclusion of his furlough. Tedford I, 567 A.2d at 621. [22] Appellant currently claims that the trial court's cautionary instruction was erroneous because appellant's work release situation was irrelevant to his credibility. Appellant maintains that he does not seek to relitigate the admissibility of the work-release evidence, a claim which was previously litigated on direct appeal, but rather contends that appellate counsel was ineffective for failing to raise trial counsel's failure to request a limiting instruction when the evidence was initially admitted and trial counsel's failure to object to the court's closing charge. The Commonwealth responds that this issue was previously litigated on direct appeal. The Commonwealth asserts that appellant is attempting to repackage the admissibility issue into a challenge to the cognate jury instructions. The PCRA court agreed, considering this claim to be previously litigated and finding that appellant was attempting to relitigate this issue under an ineffectiveness of counsel theory. The PCRA court concluded that the jury instruction appellant presently faults was related to the three reasons this Court held that evidence of appellant's work-release status was admissible. As this Court discussed in Tedford I, because appellant's work-release status gave rise to relevant circumstantial evidence of his guilt in this matter, we rejected appellate counsel's challenge to its admissibility. Appellant's current claim relates to trial counsel's failure to raise a related, but distinct, challenge focusing on the adequacy of the trial court's instruction. Contrary to the PCRA court's conclusion that this claim was previously litigated, this Court's opinion in Collins requires that such a Sixth Amendment claim be considered separate and distinct from the underlying claim of trial error. Collins' mandate, however, does not save appellant's derivative ineffectiveness claim because it is lacking in arguable merit. Evidence of a defendant's prior crimes is generally not admissible solely to show his bad character or propensity for committing criminal acts. See Pa.R.E. 404(b)(1); Commonwealth v. Billa, 521 Pa. 168, 555 A.2d 835, 840 (1989). Evidence of other crimes may be admitted for other relevant purposes, such as proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity or absence of mistake or accident, though it should only be admitted if the probative value of the evidence outweighs its potential for prejudice. Pa.R.E. 404(b)(2)-(3); see also Billa, 555 A.2d at 840. When such evidence is admitted, however, the defendant is entitled upon request to a jury instruction explaining to the jury that the specific evidence is only admissible for one or more of the above-described limited purposes. Billa, 555 A.2d at 841-42. An instruction will be upheld if it clearly, adequately and accurately reflects the law. Commonwealth v. Spotz, 563 Pa. 269, 759 A.2d 1280, 1287 (2000) (citing Commonwealth v. Hawkins, 549 Pa. 352, 701 A.2d 492, 511 (1997)). Additionally, the trial court is permitted to use its own form of expression to explain difficult legal concepts to the jury. Id. Finally, the jury is presumed to follow the court's instructions. Commonwealth v. Speight, 578 Pa. 520, 854 A.2d 450, 458 (2004). Presently, we cannot find counsel ineffective for failing to object to the instruction in this case. As we noted on direct appeal, this work-release-related evidence in fact was admissible for multiple purposes: motive, premeditation, and consciousness of guilt. But, as our quotation of the court's charge above reveals, the trial court in fact gave an instruction which limited consideration of the evidence to a different and narrower point: credibility arising from the fact that appellant lied to a friend about his work-release status. Contrary to appellant's current argument, the lie respecting work release and furlough was relevant to the motive and premeditation points. Appellant's work-release status was, in general terms, relevant to judging the weight and credibility of appellant's entire account of the weekend of January 10th against the Commonwealth's theory of the case, which naturally relied upon appellant's circumstances, including his work-release status and furlough from prison. The charge was favorable to the defense to the extent that it narrowed the jury's consideration of the evidence, and an objection would have risked a broader charge encompassing all relevant purposes. Furthermore, it must be emphasized, the trial court's charge addressed head-on the only potential for unfair prejudice arising from the evidence, squarely telling the jury that it should not infer guilt from the evidence of appellant's work release and that it was admitted for the limited purpose of gauging the weight and credibility of appellant's testimony. The jury is presumed to have followed the court's charge, see Speight, supra, and the charge here removed the prospect of prejudice. In light of trial counsel's continuing objection and the trial court's favorable narrow limiting instruction, we find that trial counsel was not ineffective. Because the trial court's instruction was not in error and trial counsel was not ineffective, any derivative layered claim of ineffective assistance of counsel lacks arguable merit.