Opinion ID: 2349093
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: legal analyses

Text: An order denying a motion to suppress shall be upheld on review if the factual findings of the lower court are supported by the record and the legal conclusions drawn therefrom are not in error. Commonwealth v. Trenge, 305 Pa.Super. 386, 451 A.2d 701 Commonwealth v. Jackson, 497 Pa. 591, 595, 442 A.2d 1098, 1100 (1982). This court believes there is uncontradicted evidence to support its factual finding that the officer observed the appellant's bloody hand in the course of a legal investigatory stop. It is clear that, in appropriate circumstances, a police officer is free to approach a citizen and address questions to him. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Berrios, 437 Pa. 338, 263 A.2d 342 (1970). The Supreme Court approved the procedure whereby a police officer might detain an individual for a short period of time if the officer suspected that the individual had engaged or was presently engaging in criminal activity, notwithstanding the fact that his suspicion did not rise to probable cause to arrest that individual. Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972). It is contended, here, that the officer could point to and relied on specific and articuable facts which, taken together with the rational inferences from those facts, reasonably justified the brief detention of the appellant for investigatory purposes. See, Commonwealth v. Williams, 287 Pa.Superior Ct. 19, 429 A.2d 698, Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1880, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). The police officer responded, within minutes, to a radio call of a broken store window and upon arriving at the scene observed the appellant and another male directly in front of and only a few feet from the broken window. They turned in the direction of the officer's patrol car as it entered the parking lot and then, walked away from the store window and in front of the car. The totality of the circumstances, including the message in the radio call, the position of the appellant in relation to the broken store window, and his movement away from the window as the patrol car approached the scene led the officer reasonably to conclude in light of his experience that criminal activity may be afoot. The brief detention and interrogation of the appellant for investigatory purposes were appropriate under these circumstances. After the officer lawfully stopped the appellant, he observed, in plain view, the appellant's bloody hand. The observation, therefore, was evidence obtained as the fruit of a legal stop even though there was no probable cause to make an arrest. Commonwealth v. Williams, supra . Accordingly, this court believes that the motion to suppress was properly denied. We turn now to the appellant's remaining contentions, which solely concern the sufficiency of the evidence upon which he was convicted. On appeal from a criminal conviction, the test for evaluating the sufficiency of the evidence is whether, viewing the entire record in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, a finder of fact could reasonably have found that all elements of the crime charged had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Lowe, 460 Pa. 357, 358, 333 A.2d 765, 766 (1975), Commonwealth v. Lee, 450 Pa. 152, 299 A.2d 640 (1973). The Commonwealth may sustain its verdict by means of wholly circumstantial evidence. Commonwealth v. Dawson, 464 Pa. 254, 346 A.2d 545 (1975). The credibility of witnesses and the weight to be accorded the evidence produced are matters within the province of the trier of fact; the fact finder is free to believe all, some, or none of the evidence. Commonwealth v. Smith, 502 Pa. 600, 467 A.2d 1120, 1122 (1983). The crimes charged here are defined as follows: A person commits an attempt when, with intent to commit a specific crime, he does any act which constitutes a substantial step toward the commission of that crime. 18 Pa.C.S. § 901. A person commits the offense of Criminal Trespass if, knowing that he is not licensed or privileged to do so, he breaks into any building or occupied structure or separately secured or occupied portion thereof. 18 Pa.C.S. § 3503. We have, here, more than a mere suspicion or conjecture. See, Commonwealth v. Rambo, 488 Pa. 334, 412 A.2d 535 (1980). The facts in the case at bar show that a window was broken, there was blood on the hand of the appellant, blood on the broken window, and the broken area of the window was large enough for a person to enter the store through it. The Superior Court has held that when one enters a building by force, he did so with the intent to commit a crime therein. Commonwealth v. Tingle, 275 Pa.Super. 489, 419 A.2d 6, 9 (1980); Commonwealth v. Lynch, 227 Pa.Super. 316, 323 A.2d 808, 810 (1974). It is clear, a fortiori, that when one attempts to enter a building by knocking out an opening in a window of that building, it is with the intent to commit a crime inside. This court believes that the requisite elements of the above offenses are proven, circumstantially, where, as here, a person breaks the window of a closed drugstore at a time and place where there are few, if any, persons around to report a crime and the window breakage is sizable and accessible enough to permit the entry of that person into the store. This court recognizes that mere presence at the scene of a crime presents insufficient evidence to sustain a verdict and, therefore, points to additional facts which clearly distinguish the case at bar from the cases relied on by the appellant. In each case cited by the appellant, there was a dearth of evidence linking the defendant with any of the acts that would constitute a substantial step towards the commission of a crime. See, Commonwealth v. Smith, 264 Pa.Super 303, 399 A.2d 788 (1979) (although appellant was seen standing some ten feet away from the premises looking towards it, a window was broken, a screen removed, and he was seen walking away from the scene a short time later, the evidence was insufficient for attempted burglary); Commonwealth v. Johnson, 272 Pa.Super. 375, 415 A.2d 1246 (1979) (Evidence that defendant was standing at 11:15 p.m. in front of store door, that a screwdriver had been wedged into the door jam and that the defendant began to walk away as a police patrol car approached was insufficient to sustain a conviction of attempted burglary; Commonwealth v. Beauford, 286 Pa.Super. 297, 428 A.2d 1000 (1981) (Evidence that juvenile defendant was observed late at night standing in front of the beer distributor's door, which was later discovered to have been jimmyed open and the juvenile ran upon the approach of the police officer was insufficient to sustain a conviction for attempted burglary). In the case before us, the appellant was less than four feet and not ten feet from the window when he was observed by the officer (as distinguished from Smith, supra). He was not a juvenile. Hence, it was unlikely that he walked away from the window when the officer approached the scene due to the unreasonable sense of fear that a younger person may experience (as distinguished from Beauford, supra). There is a more specific and critical distinction between this case and the others, however, that provides sufficient grounds for this court's verdict. This distinction is the presence of facts that link the appellant's presence to the breaking of the window which, in turn, constitutes a substantial step towards the commission of the crime of burglary. The appellant's bloody hand and the blood stains on the broken window provide the nexus needed to sustain this conviction. For the foregoing reasons, the court believes it ruled properly in denying the appellant's motion to suppress and that the Commonwealth proved each and every element of the offenses charged beyond a reasonable doubt. BY THE COURT: /s/Braxton J.