Opinion ID: 2265437
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: We now turn to the sufficiency of the evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Heck's traffic infraction was negligent. In making this assessment we must accept all evidence and inferences deducible therefrom in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as verdict-winner. The Commonwealth's evidence showed that Heck had 150 feet of visibility from the intersection north to the crest of a hill. Corporal Studenroth of the Pennsylvania State Police, who happened to be stopped at the intersection on Union Schoolhouse Lane at the time of the accident, clearly saw Ginder's motorcycle approaching. The Corporal estimated the speed of the motorcycle as at least 55 MPH, an estimate confirmed by a defense witness. (A third witness's estimate of Ginder's speed about a mile before the accident was so self-contradictory and inconclusive that we find it unusable for establishing Ginder's speed at impact). Based on the credible estimates of speed and distance, it took Ginder nearly two seconds to reach the point of impact from the crest of the hill (150 ft. divided by 81 ft./sec. [approx. 55 MPH] = approx. 1.85 secs.). Thus Ginder's motorcycle was visible to Heck for these two seconds before the crash. (Had Heck started his turn before Ginder crested the hill, undoubtedly Heck's car would not have been struck in the right front fender as it was). We cannot as a matter of law overturn the finding of the Lancaster County jury that beyond a reasonable doubt Heck should have seen Ginder in time to avoid the accident. We therefore must conclude that the evidence was sufficient to establish a negligent violation of the traffic law, and thereby vehicular homicide under the Field standard. Cf., e.g., Commonwealth v. Setsodi, 303 Pa.Super. 482, 450 A.2d 29 (1982) (prima facie case of vehicular homicide made out where defendant failed to perceive approaching motorcycle while turning left into driveway); Commonwealth v. Hartzell, 282 Pa.Super. 549, 423 A.2d 381 (1980) (failure to yield right-of-way at stop sign); see also Commonwealth v. Koch, supra (same). Although we find the evidence sufficient to uphold a finding that Heck should have known he was violating Section 3322 of the Vehicle Code (Vehicle turning left), we find it insufficient to establish any degree of culpability higher than ordinary negligence. Specifically, the evidence failed to prove that Heck knew when he began his turn that Ginder was so close as to constitute a hazard. Had this prong of the Field test for sufficiency been proven, it could be said that Heck proceeded in the face of a known illegal risk, and we could conclude that Ginder's death was the result of greater than ordinary negligence. However, Heck testified that he did not see Ginder until the moment before impact. Of course, the jury was free to disbelieve this testimony; but there was insufficient evidence aside from it to corroborate a theory of guilty knowledge. The intersection itself was on a high spot of ground and afforded the Corporal a vantage point from which to watch both vehicles approaching. Each vehicle entered a slight dip or gully immediately before the intersection. This configuration of the road would not have altogether prevented someone in Heck's position from seeing the motorcycle after it crested the hill. However, Corporal Studenroth saw no outward indication that the driver of the automobile in fact noticed the motorcycle; the car did not skid or slide before impact, nor did it speed up; it simply turned in front of the cycle. See Commonwealth v. Barone, supra (similar evidence relevant to negate mens rea). Another officer who attempted to reconstruct the accident after the fact found skid marks at the scene which he linked to the Heck vehicle. We must view this evidence with caution because the trooper was unable to say with certainty that the skid marks came from Heck's car. Even if believed, the trooper's testimony viewed in light of the other credible evidence established at most that Heck perceived the motorcycle too late to conform his conduct to what he saw. See also Reed v. Hutchinson, 331 Pa.Super. 404, 480 A.2d 1096 (1984) (inadmissibility of non-eyewitness police officer's opinion as to cause of accident). Moreover, we find the evidence insufficient to prove that Heck's failure to apprehend the hazard in time was a gross deviation from a reasonable standard of care. We perceive Barone, supra, to be controlling on this issue. In that case a motorcycle operator was killed when Barone waited patiently at a stop sign, then tried to cross the intersection after she apparently either failed to look to her right or misjudged the distance and rate of speed of the oncoming traffic. 276 Pa.Super. at 299, 419 A.2d at 466-67 (lead opinion by then-President Judge Cercone). The Barone Court was in agreement that the evidence failed to prove conduct amounting to gross negligence or criminal negligence. ( Barone was decided at a time when the culpability element of vehicular homicide remained unsettled). We follow Barone in holding the evidence in this case insufficient to prove criminal negligence. All the evidence points unerringly to the single conclusion that Heck was at most ordinarily negligent in causing the accident; his momentary inadvertence led to Ginder's death.