Opinion ID: 1972943
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Analysis Hude Appeal

Text: No scenario would be more likely to suggest the specter of overzealous prosecution than the circumstances surrounding Mr. Hude's conviction. This appeal arises from the arrest of appellant which resulted in indictments charging twenty counts of possession and delivery of drugs on twenty separate days as a result of a series of sales to the same individual. [7] That individual, Barry Hagemus, a self-confessed drug seller, was the sole witness offered by the Commonwealth to prove these alleged transactions. Three of the possession and delivery charges were dismissed following the preliminary hearing. Prior to the initial trial, in a proceeding in the nature of habeas corpus contesting the committing magistrate's prima facie determination, six other counts were dismissed by stipulation of counsel. The Commonwealth proceeded to trial on three of the counts charging possession and delivery and the one count of corrupting the morals of a minor. Appellant was acquitted on all charges by the jury. The Commonwealth thereafter went to trial on the remaining counts, over appellant's objection. In this second trial appellant was convicted of some of these charges and after appeal, those convictions were reversed by the Superior Court. [8] Again in the second trial the Commonwealth relied upon the testimony to Hagemus to establish the transactions. Finally in the perjury case, the Commonwealth charged that appellant made three false statements during the first trial. It was contended that he lied: (1) when he stated he owned a certain car; (2) when he stated that he never dealt in drugs; and (3) when he stated he did not have a specified car during a particular period of time. The perjury complaint was heard without a jury. A demurrer was sustained as to the first averment and appellant was found not guilty of the third averment. It is the conviction of the second averment that is presently before us. From this recitation it is evident, even before applying the Ashe analysis, that the Commonwealth was determined to convict appellant on the basis of the testimony of Hagemus. In identifying the issue it must be stressed that at Hude's substantive trial it was simply a question of oath against oath. Hagemus testified to a number of meetings during which the contraband was allegedly transferred. The defendant denied agreeing to sell or selling drugs to Hagemus. There was no question of misidentification nor was it possible to reconcile the conflicting versions. The jury was forced either to accept Hagemus' testimony or to acquit. They followed the latter course. Thus the critical, in fact the sole issue litigated at the first trial was the credibility of Hagemus, and the jury resolved that issue against the Commonwealth. When we carefully scrutinize the perjury action we find that it was no more than a thinly veiled attempt to retry the issue of Hagemus' credibility. The Commonwealth argues in its brief: The jury in the drug trials had to determine whether or not the drug transfers took place between Appellant and Barry Hagemus on eleven (11) days in particular. Does it follow logically, as Appellant suggests, that since he was found not guilty of the drug charges in the first trial, then all subsequent juries would be obligated forever to value his testimony more than that of any Commonwealth witness? Obviously, the answer to this rhetorical question as framed is no. However, the significant factors the question fails to incorporate are that it was the same witness repeating the same testimony before a second jury. Nor are we concerned with Hagemus' credibility in other areas or against other defendants. The only question is whether the original jury's resolution of the issue of Hagemus' credibility as to the subject matter testified to during the original trial was conclusive as to this appellant, thereby foreclosing it from further litigation in the subsequent proceeding, against this appellant. The Commonwealth makes the fallacious argument: The concept of collateral estoppel is designed to protect an accused from prosecutorial harassment. The constitutional doctrine is intended to prevent prosecutors from retrying acquitted defendants with the same evidence. It cannot be argued that Appellant was subjected to such conduct, because the record shows clearly that the testimony of Officers Batz and Wass offered to corroborate the testimony of the Commonwealth's main witness, Barry Hagemus, at the perjury trial could have been properly presented only for the first time at that trial. To be more accurate, collateral estoppel is issue preclusion. Ashe v. Swenson, supra, 397 U.S. at 444, 90 S.Ct. at 1194; Commonwealth v. Peluso, 481 Pa. 641, 393 A.2d 344 (1978); United States v. Nash, 447 F.2d 1382 (4th Cir. 1971). It seeks to prevent the relitigation of a finally litigated issue in a subsequent proceeding between the same parties whether the same or different evidence is to be introduced. Our perjury statute requires that proof of the falsity of a statement must be corroborated. 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 4902(f). This may be accomplished by the direct testimony of two witnesses or by direct testimony of one witness plus corroborating evidence. Commonwealth v. Broughton, 257 Pa.Super. 369, 390 A.2d 1282 (1978); Commonwealth v. Field, 223 Pa.Super. 258, 298 A.2d 908 (1972). As the above quoted argument of the Commonwealth indicates, they chose to offer Hagemus' testimony as the direct evidence of the falsity and the two officers' testimony in corroboration. Hagemus' testimony was offered to establish the falsity. It was the same as that offered before the original jury. Thus the factfinder in the perjury charge was required to accept the same testimony which the original tribunal had rejected. If collateral estoppel is applicable and the issue has been deemed to be foreclosed, the fact that additional corroboration may be available is of no consequence. Commonwealth v. Peluso, supra ; Wingate v. Wainwright, 464 F.2d 209 (5th Cir. 1972). Thus the additional fact of corroboration in the perjury action is not determinative; what is controlling is that the direct evidence of the falsity produced in the perjury trial was the same evidence that was rejected in the original trial. [9] Approaching our analysis in terms of the suggested three step approach our differences with views expressed by the Commonwealth and adopted by a majority of the Superior Court become clear. The ultimate issue of fact to be proven in the original trial was that Hude possessed and delivered to Hagemus drugs at specified times. The sole evidentiary basis offered to establish that question was the testimony of Hagemus. Since Hagemus' testimony was the sole evidentiary basis for the charges, his credibility was the only issue contested in the trial and presented to the jury for resolution. Thus the issue of Hagemus' credibility was not only material in the first trial, it was critical; it was also unquestionably litigated, being the only question in dispute; and, it was necessarily decided adverse to the Commonwealth by the verdict. The ultimate issue of fact sought to be proven in the perjury proceeding was whether appellant knowingly lied when he answered in the negative the question posed by his counsel. [10] If we were to freeze our analysis at this point we would have to agree that there was not a sufficiently similar and material issue in both actions to make the doctrine of collateral estoppel applicable. The difficulty with this resolution is that to stop the analysis at this point fails to set [the inquiry] in a practical frame and viewed with an eye to all the circumstances. Ashe v. Swenson, supra, 397 U.S. at 444, 99 S.Ct. at 1194. In this case the perjury trial has been completed and we have the record before us. A review of that record establishes that the proof of the falsity of the answer depended upon the acceptance of Hagemus' testimony that appellant was dealing in drugs. To look only to the ultimate issue of fact and assess its dissimilarities with the issues in the original trial and ignore the factual predicate upon which that ultimate issue of fact must rest would be the technically restrictive approach that Ashe instructs us not to follow. The concern that application of the doctrine to evidentiary issues rather than confining it to ultimate issues of fact makes it more difficult to ascertain that each evidentiary issue was necessarily adjudicated in the original acquittal is not present here where that issue was the only one to be resolved. Thus, in this instance, there is no rational basis to insist upon a distinction between evidentiary and ultimate and we refuse to adhere to a rule in instances where the reasons for its application are not present. See, United States v. Sarno, supra ; United States v. Hernandez, supra ; United States v. Nash, supra ; United States v. Drevetzki, 338 F.Supp. 403 (N.D.Ill. 1972). We also reject the suggestion that we should limit our interpretation of the original jury's verdict as merely evidencing the jury's disbelief that Hagemus sold or delivered drugs on the specific days and places set forth in the indictments in that case and not to accept it as a general repudiation of Hagemus' testimony. In his testimony during the first trial, as he did on each occasion where he was called for the Commonwealth, Hagemus' testimony consisted of a full explication of his alleged knowledge of Hude's dealing . . .. At the time the first trial commenced, there were a number of indictments covering the testimony that was given during the first trial. The Commonwealth elected to proceed only on three of these sale and delivery indictments. It is reasonable to assume that the Commonwealth selected the strongest cases in its first attempt to convict. The defense was a general denial of the course of conduct rather than a specific response to one or more of the dates set forth in the indictments to which appellant was then being called upon to answer. Approaching the record of the first perjury trial with the realism and rationality we are required to employ, we can find no basis for singling out or isolating facts to suggest the jury may have rejected only that on the three dates in the indictments before them, appellant was not engaged in dealing and selling but did engage or deal and sell drugs. To the contrary, the indications are that the first jury's repudiation of the testimony of Hagemus was complete. We note that in the second trial the jury did convict on some counts and acquit on others. In that posture, the Commonwealth's argument would have much more substance. However, our concern in this appeal is the finding of the original jury which rejected all of the three indictments they were presented with. Finally, we also note that in the first trial the jury had before them the indictment charging corrupting the morals of a minor. The minor referred to in that indictment was, of course, the witness, Hagemus, who was 16 at the time of the alleged occurrence of this series of events. If the jury had, as the Commonwealth suggests, concluded that Hude was in fact dealing in drugs and dealt in drugs with this young boy but not on the occasions in the indictments before them, the jury could have returned a verdict of corrupting the morals of a minor, although acquitting as to the specific charges of sale and delivery. This they did not do, which is further evidence of the total rejection of the testimony of Hagemus. The Commonwealth attempts to respond to the failure of the jury to make a finding of guilt on the corrupting charge by suggesting that the jury may have acquitted because they believed that the witness, Hagemus, was already corrupt. While this is a possibility, it is the kind of labored reasoning that the Ashe Court referred to as the hypertechnical and archaic approach of a 19th century pleading book. In that instance, the corrupting count was clearly an umbrella charge which was intended to fill the gaps if the Commonwealth's proof failed as to the specific averments. Its rejection indicates the total discredit of the Commonwealth's case by the jury. Moreover, the Commonwealth's argument that the jury concluded that Hagemus was already corrupted further supports the view that they totally rejected all of his testimony. We are satisfied that a fair reading of this record demonstrates that during the first trial the jury did litigate the question of Hagemus' credibility as to his alleged knowledge of Hude's drug dealings and found that testimony to be wanting. It was not rejected in part; it was rejected fully; and, for that reason, we feel that collateral estoppel can properly be invoked to prevent the relitigation of that issue. Therefore, the Order of the Superior Court affirming the Judgment of Sentence entered in the perjury case is reversed; the Judgment of Sentence is vacated, and the appellant is discharged.