Opinion ID: 2106520
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sufficiency of the evidence

Text: Although appellant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence regarding his first degree murder convictions, we are required in all cases where the death penalty has been imposed, to independently undertake a review of the sufficiency of the evidence, even where a plea of guilty has been entered. [8] Commonwealth v, Zettlemoyer, 500 Pa. 16, 26, 454 A.2d 937, 942 (1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 970, 103 S.Ct. 2444, 77 L.Ed.2d 1327 (1983), reh'g denied, 463 U.S. 1236, 104 S.Ct. 31, 77 L.Ed.2d 1452 (1983). When reviewing a sufficiency of the evidence claim, an appellate court, viewing all the evidence and reasonable inferences therefrom in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as the verdict winner, must determine whether the evidence was sufficient to enable the fact finder to find that all of the elements of the offenses were established beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Burgos, 530 Pa. 473, 476, 610 A.2d 11, 13 (1992). Viewing the evidence presented in the trial court below in its proper light, we find that the evidence amply supports the convictions of first degree murder. The following facts form the basis for appellant's convictions: on October 16, 1993, appellant's 78 year-old uncle, and 87 year-old grandmother were found dead in their residence located in the village of Cumbola, Pennsylvania. Their bodies were discovered after appellant's uncle had not shown up for work and his employer went to the home to see if anything was wrong. The employer entered the home through the basement door, discovered the uncle's dead body and summoned the police. When the police arrived at the home, they found appellant's grandmother with a single gunshot wound in the forehead in the upstairs bedroom. Appellant's uncle was found shot to death lying on a couch in the basement. During the subsequent investigation, the police spoke to appellant's mother who informed the police that all she knew was that the night before, appellant had taken his brother's firearm and had gone to the area in Cumbola village known as Five Points to go shooting. [9] After obtaining this information, the police went to appellant's apartment and transported him to the police station for questioning. At the police station, appellant was advised of his Miranda rights. [10] Appellant indicated that he understood his rights and that he waived those rights. He then gave a verbal statement to the police in which he indicated that on the night of the murders he was at a bar with another male, Roy Miles, and that after a few beers, he and Miles left the bar and traveled to his brother's house to pick up his brother's .22 caliber rifle. He and Miles then went to his grandmother's house where he shot his uncle. Appellant refused to give the police any information regarding the shooting of his grandmother. After his statement, the police arrested appellant for the murder of his grandmother and uncle. Appellant's co-conspirator, Miles, testified at the degree of guilt hearing that while at a bar, he and appellant were drinking and they ran out of money. [11] Appellant told Miles that he knew where they could obtain more money, but that they might have to kill someone to get it. Miles agreed to this proposition and both individuals left the bar and went to appellant's house and retrieved the rifle. The two men then drove to appellant's grandmother's house several miles away. Once they arrived at the house, Miles accompanied appellant, who was armed with the rifle, down into the basement of the house where appellant's uncle was sleeping. Appellant then fired a single shot into his uncle's head killing him instantly. He then told Miles to search his uncle's pockets and take his uncle's wallet which contained a sum of cash. Thereafter, the two men went upstairs to the grandmother's bedroom. As appellant's grandmother was speaking to him, he shot her in the forehead one time killing her instantly as well. The two men then left the house and returned to the bar in Pottsville. [12] A social worker who had interviewed appellant at prison testified at the degree of guilt hearing that appellant told her that he and Miles had gone to his grandmother's house to get money, that he had retrieved a rifle to take with him, that he shot his uncle and that they took money from his dead uncle's pockets. She further testified that although appellant refused to give any specific details regarding his grandmother's murder, appellant slipped more than once and stated that he killed them and not just him. Additional testimony at the degree of guilt hearing included that of a police lieutenant who testified that the shell casings found near both deceased's bodies had been fired from appellant's rifle. Autopsy reports were also admitted which corroborated that both victims died as a result of gunshot wounds to the head fired from the rifle possessed by appellant. In first degree murder cases, the Commonwealth must prove that the defendant acted with a specific intent to kill, that a human being was unlawfully killed, that the person accused did the killing, and that the killing was done with deliberation. Commonwealth v. Mitchell, 528 Pa. 546, 550, 599 A.2d 624, 626 (1991). [13] Appellant's statements to the police and the social worker, combined with the corroborating testimony of his co-conspirator, Miles, and other evidence clearly showed that appellant, with premeditation, planned to kill, and did kill, two human beings in order to steal money from them. As such, the evidence sufficiently demonstrates that the killings here were done with premeditation, deliberation and in cold blood. Therefore, the evidence sufficiently supports appellant's two first degree murder convictions.