Opinion ID: 2197178
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Appellant's Evidentiary Claims

Text: Appellant initially raises five claims of error regarding the admission of evidence at trial. In reviewing the trial court's rulings, we are guided by the rule of law that the admissibility of evidence is a matter addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court, which may only be reversed upon a showing that the court abused its discretion. Commonwealth v. Claypool, 508 Pa. 198, 203-204, 495 A.2d 176, 178 (1985). After reviewing appellant's claims in light of this standard, we find them to be meritless. We begin our review of appellant's evidentiary claims by addressing appellant's three contentions regarding the admission of out of court statements under the co-conspirator's exception to the hearsay rule. [9] Under this exception, the out of court declarations of a co-conspirator may be introduced against another co-conspirator provided three requirements are satisfied. The prosecution must prove the existence of a conspiracy between the declarant and the defendant against whom the evidence is being offered. Once this requirement is satisfied the Commonwealth must show that the statements were made during the course of the conspiracy, and finally that the statements were made in furtherance of the common design. Commonwealth v. Zdrale, 530 Pa. 313, 317, 608 A.2d 1037, 1039 (1992). In his first allegation appellant contends that the trial court erred in admitting the statements of James Hardin pertaining to the death of Earl Span, since these statements do not fall within the co-conspirator's exception. Specifically, appellant argues that Hardin's statements regarding the death of Earl Span were not made in furtherance of the conspiracy to kill Harlene Mayhue, and cannot, therefore, be admitted under this exception. We disagree. The conversation with Steve Gavura allowed Hardin and appellant to obtain a burial site for the body of Earl Span, thus enabling them to avoid prosecution for that murder, and remain at large, free to continue their ongoing plot against Mrs. Mayhue. Such statements were clearly made in furtherance of the conspiracy to kill Harlene Mayhue, and were properly admitted. Appellant next alleges the trial court erred in admitting the statements of Gerald McCarthy as statements made by a co-conspirator. In challenging McCarthy's statements, appellant asserts the statements were inadmissible due to the Commonwealth's failure to present sufficient evidence of the underlying conspiracy between appellant and McCarthy. This argument is meritless. With respect to the introduction of evidence under the co-conspirator exception, the Commonwealth is only required to prove the existence of a conspiracy by a fair preponderance of the evidence. Commonwealth v. Pinkins, 514 Pa. 418, 424, 525 A.2d 1189, 1191 (1987). In addition, the Commonwealth need not establish such a preponderance through direct evidence. Rather, a conspiracy, for purposes of the co-conspirator exception, may be inferentially established by showing the relation, conduct or circumstances of the parties. Commonwealth v. Dreibelbis, 493 Pa. 466, 475, 426 A.2d 1111, 1115 (1981); Commonwealth v. Roux, 465 Pa. 482, 350 A.2d 867 (1976). The evidence presented at trial clearly established McCarthy's role in the conspiracy to kill Harlene Mayhue. McCarthy had supplied Edward Lau with the gun found in Lau's possession when he was arrested outside the victim's house on April 17, 1985. Lau testified that he had planned to use the gun to kill the victim. On two occasions prior to this incident, McCarthy had driven Lau to the victim's residence. On the first occasion, he had pointed out the house as the place to do a job. On the second occasion, McCarthy dropped Lau off on a road behind the victim's house, and Lau followed a creek through the woods to the residence. This was exactly the same modus operandi which appellant and Hardin had planned for Wayne Shackleford to carry out the killing. In addition, McCarthy had provided Lau with a floor plan of the victim's house, and a key to one of the buildings on the victim's property. McCarthy's involvement with appellant and Hardin was further evidenced by Hardin's statement to Steve Gavura that he, appellant, and Gerry the hit man had killed Earl Span. Finally, after the burial of Span, appellant had discussed McCarthy's ability as a hit man, and told Gavura that [G]erry the hit man worked at Station Square as a bartender, sold drugs, and was a ladies' man. Such intimate knowledge of McCarthy's personal life and his ability as a contract killer, when coupled with McCarthy's conduct and the absence of any personal reason for him to seek Mrs. Mayhue's death, clearly established by a preponderance of the evidence that appellant had solicited McCarthy to aid him in murdering the victim. Thus, McCarthy's statements were correctly admitted as those of a co-conspirator. Appellant's final hearsay claim challenges the admission of requests made by Hardin to Steve Gavura following appellant's arrest. Hardin asked Gavura to misdirect the police as to why he had been in Gavura's driveway on the night of the murder, and to show the police a spot where Gavura had buried a dog rather than the body of Earl Span. Appellant asserts that these statements were erroneously admitted under the co-conspirator exception since they were not made during the conspiracy which had terminated upon appellant's arrest. We have previously held on several occasions that the fulfillment of the main objective of a conspiracy does not necessarily result in its termination. Where there is evidence that the conspirators originally agreed to take certain steps after the principal objective of the conspiracy was reached, or evidence from which such an agreement might reasonably be inferred, the conspiracy may be found to continue. Commonwealth v. Pass, 468 Pa. 36, 46, 360 A.2d 167, 171 (1976). Thus, statements made by conspirators in an attempt to conceal a completed crime may be admissible against other co-conspirators under the co-conspirator exception when the concealment of the crime was an integral part of the common design to which the conspirators agreed. Pass, 468 Pa. at 46, 360 A.2d at 171; Commonwealth v. Haag, 522 Pa. 388, 562 A.2d 289 (1989). We have held, however, that the hearsay rule no longer applies once the object of the conspiracy has been completed, and one or more of the conspirators is under arrest or in custody. Commonwealth v. Ransom, 446 Pa. 457, 288 A.2d 762 (1972). In the instant case, concealment of the murder of Harlene Mayhue was clearly an integral part of the plan agreed upon by appellant and Hardin. At the time of the murder, appellant had been in contact with David Kisow for nearly four years, attempting to arrange for disposal of the body. The Commonwealth argues that in light of this agreement Hardin's statements following appellant's arrest are admissible since they were in furtherance of the ongoing agreement to conceal the crime. In support of this position, the Commonwealth cites the cases of Pass, Haag, and Commonwealth v. Wilson, 394 Pa. 588, 148 A.2d 234 (1959). In Pass and Haag, we upheld the admission of conspirators' attempts to conceal their involvement in the murders in the respective cases on the ground that concealment of the crime had been an agreed upon part of each original plan. Similarly, in Wilson, this court held the original conspiracy to commit a murder/robbery to have encompassed the disposition of the proceeds of the robbery and concealment of the crime. Thus, we upheld the admission of numerous trips, conversations, and telephone calls made in furtherance of these goals. All of these cases, however, are distinguishable from the present case in that they dealt with the admission of acts and statements made after the fulfillment of the conspiracy's principal goal, but prior to the arrest of any of the conspirators. Under the present facts, Hardin's requests for Gavura to deceive the police about his purpose in Gavura's driveway on the night of December 15, 1986 and the burial of Earl Span were made after the arrest of appellant, and hence after the termination of the conspiracy. Such evidence was improperly admitted under the co-conspirators' exception. Examination of the record, however, reveals the admission of this evidence to be a harmless error which does not constitute a ground for relief. Under the rule in the seminal case of Commonwealth v. Story, 476 Pa. 391, 406, 383 A.2d 155, 162 (1978), we will only consider an error to be harmless when the Commonwealth is able to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the error was harmless. This burden is satisfied when the Commonwealth is able to show, (1) the error did not prejudice the defendant or the prejudice was de minimis; or (2) the erroneously admitted evidence was merely cumulative of other untainted evidence which was substantially similar to the erroneously admitted evidence; or (3) the properly admitted and uncontradicted evidence of guilt was so overwhelming and the prejudicial effect of the error was so insignificant by comparison that the error could not have contributed to the verdict. Commonwealth v. Williams, 524 Pa. 404, 409, 573 A.2d 536, 538 (1990) (citing Story, 476 Pa. at 410-415, 383 A.2d at 164-166). The statements made by Hardin following appellant's arrest were not the only evidence introduced against appellant. Indeed, the Commonwealth introduced the testimony of Wayne Shackleford and Edward Lau regarding appellant's attempts to solicit someone to kill his wife, David Kisow's testimony regarding appellant's arrangements to dispose of the body, Steve Gavura's testimony regarding Hardin's activities and statements on the night of the murder, and evidence of the numerous statements made by appellant and Hardin after the murder but prior to appellant's arrest, which implicated them in the murder. In the face of such overwhelming evidence, the admission of Hardin's statements after appellant's arrest could hardly be said to have contributed to the verdict. Thus, it was mere harmless error. Appellant's fourth allegation of error claims the trial court erred in failing to suppress evidence of the death of Earl Span on the grounds that it constituted inadmissible evidence of prior criminal activity. We have long held that as a general rule evidence of distinct crimes is inadmissible in the prosecution of another crime solely to show the accused's bad character and propensity to commit criminal acts. Commonwealth v. Seiders, 531 Pa. 592, 614 A.2d 689 (1992); Commonwealth v. Billa, 521 Pa. 168, 555 A.2d 835 (1989). Such evidence, however, may be admissible in special circumstances where the evidence is relevant for some other legitimate purpose, and not merely to prejudice the defendant by showing him to be a person of bad character. Commonwealth v. Claypool, 508 Pa. 198, 495 A.2d 176 (1985). As we recently stated in Seiders: [E]vidence of other crimes may be admitted where there is a legitimate evidentiary purpose for such evidence. Some of the exceptions recognized by this Court as legitimate bases for admitting evidence of a defendant's distinct crimes include, but are not limited to, (1) motive; (2) intent; (3) absence of mistake or accident; (4) a common scheme, plan, or design embracing two or more crimes so related to each other that proof of one tends to prove the others; or (5) to establish the identity of the person charged with the commission of the crime on trial, in other words, where there is such a logical connection between the crimes that proof of one will naturally tend to show that the accused is the person who committed the other; (6) to impeach the credibility of a defendant who testifies in his trial; (7) situations where a defendant's prior criminal history had been used by him to threaten or intimidate the victim; (8) situations where the distinct crimes were part of a chain or sequence of events which formed the history of the case and were part of its natural development . . . (citations omitted). Seiders, 531 Pa. 592, 614 A.2d 689 (1992) (citing Billa, 521 Pa. at 177, 555 A.2d 835). Under the present facts, we find the evidence of the death of Earl Span was properly admitted under the complete story (res gestae) exception articulated by this court in Commonwealth v. Lark, 518 Pa. 290, 543 A.2d 491 (1988). In Lark, we reviewed a direct appeal from a judgment of sentence of death imposed following the defendant's conviction for murder of the first degree, terroristic threats, and kidnapping. The charges against the defendant arose from the murder of the Commonwealth's chief witness, the victim, Tae Bong Cho, in a robbery prosecution against the defendant. Following the murder, the robbery charges against the defendant proceeded despite the death of the witness. In June 1979, at the close of the Commonwealth's evidence, the defendant fled from justice. The trial, however, continued in the defendant's absence and he was found guilty of robbery. While at large, the defendant began threatening the Assistant District Attorney who had obtained his conviction and who was directing the search for the defendant. On January 9, 1980, the defendant was at last spotted by police. A high speed chase ensued, and was followed by a two hour standoff during which the defendant held a woman and her two children hostage. While holding his hostages, the defendant made several statements connecting him to the murder of Tae Bong Cho. On appeal, the defendant asserted that the trial court erred in denying his motion for severance of the three charges against him on the grounds that the offenses did not arise from the same transaction, and that evidence of each offense would have been inadmissible in a separate trial for the other. In rejecting this claim, we held that the evidence of each offense was not only relevant to prove a logical connection between the crimes, such as motive, intent, or identity, so that proof of one naturally tended to show that the accused committed the other, but also, and more important, to complete the story by demonstrating the history and natural development of the facts. As we stated: The four principle (sic) crimes (robbery, murder, terroristic threats and kidnapping) involved in this case were all linked together, along with the other threats and intimidation, and presented a clear picture of appellant's pattern of destruction and intimidation of the participants in the criminal justice system. The terroristic threats against Mr. Cunningham and the kidnapping of Ms. Morris and her children were clearly relevant to shed light on appellant's motive and intent in murdering Mr. Cho, in establishing his identity by showing a logical connection between the crimes and an oft-repeated pattern of appellant, and, importantly in this unique case, to show the natural development of the case and to complete the story. Indeed, the events described at trial were interwoven with and naturally developed one from the other. Appellant is a judicial nihilist. His total behavior was directed at wrecking the truth seeking function of the system which holds us accountable for our behavior. Commonwealth v. Lark, 518 Pa. at 307, 543 A.2d at 499. Just as the evidence of the various defenses in Lark was necessary to portray the defendant's crimes accurately, not as isolated incidents but rather as acts committed in an ongoing pattern of judicial nihilism, the evidence of Earl Span's death was essential to complete the story behind the death of Harlene Mayhue. [10] Like the testimony of Wayne Shackleford and Edward Lau, it provided another piece of a puzzle which, once completed, revealed Harlene Mayhue's murder to be the culmination of a series of cold, calculating, and unrelenting attempts to bring about her demise, rather than the product of an isolated instance of brutality brought on by the heat of passion. It was properly admitted. Appellant's final evidentiary claim alleges error in the trial court's failure to suppress his statements to police informant Wilbert Alexander while he was incarcerated awaiting trial for Mrs. Mayhue's murder, and argues violation of his sixth amendment right to counsel. [11] Our standard of review in addressing a defendant's challenge to the denial of a motion to suppress is set forth in Commonwealth v. Cortez, 507 Pa. 529, 532, 491 A.2d 111, 112 (1985), where we stated: When we review the ruling of a suppression court we must determine whether the factual findings are supported by the record. When it is a defendant who has appealed, we must consider only the evidence of the prosecution and so much of the evidence for the defense as, fairly read in the context of the record as a whole remains uncontradicted. Assuming that there is support in the record, we are bound by the facts as are found and we may reverse the suppression court only if the legal conclusions drawn from those facts are error. Id. In Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201, 84 S.Ct. 1199, 12 L.Ed.2d 246 (1964), the United States Supreme Court addressed the issue of the admission of a defendant's inculpatory statements to a police informant made after the defendant's indictment. Massiah arose out of an incident involving a defendant who was free on bail following his indictment. During the course of an automobile ride, the defendant made inculpatory statements to a co-defendant who, unbeknownst to the defendant, had agreed to act as an informant for the police. The Court subsequently held the statements to be inadmissible on the ground that the informant's deliberate attempts to elicit statements from the defendant regarding the offense with which he had been charged amounted to a secret interrogation in violation of the defendant's Sixth Amendment rights. The holding of Massiah was subsequently reaffirmed in United States v. Henry, 447 U.S. 264, 100 S.Ct. 2183, 65 L.Ed.2d 115 (1980), and Maine v. Moulton, 474 U.S. 159, 106 S.Ct. 477, 88 L.Ed.2d 481 (1985). In Henry, the Court affirmed an order of the Court of Appeals which reversed the denial of the defendant's motion to suppress inculpatory statements made by him to an FBI informant while he was incarcerated following his indictment on robbery charges. In reaching this decision, the Court held that under Massiah, the informant's stimulation of conversations with the defendant in order to elicit incriminating information violated the defendant's right to counsel. Likewise, in Moulton, the Court held that an informant's prompting of the defendant during a supposed discussion of trial strategy, by feigning an inability to remember various details of the crimes the two had committed, constituted deliberate elicitation impermissible under Massiah. We recently addressed this issue in Commonwealth v. Moose, 529 Pa. 218, 602 A.2d 1265 (1992). Moose arose out of a defendant's challenge to a judgment of sentence of life imprisonment following his conviction for first degree murder. At issue was the admission of inculpatory statements made by the defendant, who was in the York County Jail awaiting trial on the murder charges against him, to an informant, whom the District Attorney's Office had allowed to remained unsentenced in the County jail for three years due to his propensity for obtaining confessions from other inmates. No formal agreement, however, had ever been made between the informant, known as the monsignor, and the District Attorney's Office. We subsequently held the statements to be inadmissible. In doing so we concluded that the informant was a Commonwealth agent due to the implied understanding that he would not be sentenced for his conviction for third degree murder, so long as he continued to obtain confessions. In addition, we held that the defendant's statements had been deliberately elicited by the informant, who had asked the defendant about the ownership of the knife used to kill the victim and other questions designed to extract incriminating information. In the case now before us, appellant argues that under the Massiah line of cases his statements to Alexander following his indictment should be suppressed. We find this argument unpersuasive for two reasons. First, under Kuhlmann v. Wilson, 477 U.S. 436, 106 S.Ct. 2616, 91 L.Ed.2d 364 (1986), Alexander's remark to appellant that he was getting out of jail does not constitute the sort of deliberate elicitation prohibited by Massiah and its progeny. In Kuhlmann, the police placed an informant, who had previously agreed to listen to the defendant's conversations and report his remarks to the police, in the same prison cell as the defendant following the defendant's arraignment on robbery and murder charges. The informant had been specifically instructed not to ask any questions of the defendant, and did not do so. When the defendant first discussed his participation in the crime, however, the informant had remarked that the defendant's explanation for his presence at the crime scene, didn't sound too good. The defendant later admitted the crime to the informant. The court held that the defendant's right to counsel had not been violated by the incident. In doing so, it first noted that a defendant does not make out a violation of that right simply by showing that an informant, either through prior arrangement or voluntarily, reported his incriminating statements to police. Rather, the defendant must demonstrate that the police and their informant took some action beyond mere listening that was designed deliberately to elicit incriminating remarks. The Court then concluded that the informant's actions did not constitute deliberate elicitation since the informant had merely listened to the defendant's spontaneous and unsolicited statements. The investigators in this case, like the police in Kuhlmann, instructed Alexander to avoid talking and to let the defendant speak. It was appellant who initiated all conversations concerning the killing of potential witnesses. Like the informant in Kuhlmann, Alexander was a mere passive listener whose only remark to appellant concerned his own imminent release. Under Kuhlmann, such a remark can hardly be said to constitute the type of deliberate elicitation violative of appellant's right to counsel. Appellant's argument also fails due to a second, more fundamental flaw. Specifically, appellant ignores the fact that under Illinois v. Perkins, 496 U.S. 292, 110 S.Ct. 2394, 110 L.Ed.2d 243 (1990), Massiah and its progeny, which dealt with the admission of inculpatory statements concerning the crime for which the defendants had already been charged, are simply inapplicable to the present facts where the statements in question concerned a crime for which no charges had been filed against appellant. In Perkins, the United States Supreme Court upheld the admission of inculpatory statements elicited by an undercover officer from a defendant concerning an unsolved murder while the defendant was incarcerated and awaiting trial on other charges. In reaching its decision, the Court held that the Massiah line of cases was inapplicable, since charges had not been filed on the subject of the interrogation, [12] stating, This Court's Sixth Amendment decisions in Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201, 12 L.Ed.2d 246, 84 S.Ct. 1199 (1964), United States v. Henry, 447 U.S. 264, 65 L.Ed.2d 115, 100 S.Ct. 2183 (1980), and Maine v. Moulton, 474 U.S. 159, 88 L.Ed.2d 481, 106 S.Ct. 477 (1985), also do not avail respondent. We held in those cases that the government may not use an undercover agent to circumvent the Sixth Amendment right to counsel once a suspect has been charged with the crime. After charges have been filed, the Sixth Amendment prevents the government from interfering with the accused's right to counsel (citation omitted). In the instant case no charges had been filed on the subject of the interrogation, and our Sixth Amendment cases are inapplicable. Perkins, 496 U.S. at 299, 110 S.Ct. at 2398. Here, as in Perkins, the purpose of the conversations with appellant was to obtain information about an offense for which appellant had yet to be charged. Prior to his meeting with appellant on September 11, 1987, Wilbert Alexander was specifically instructed not to discuss the murder of Harlene Mayhue with appellant, but rather, to stick to the solicitation case against appellant. At the suppression hearing, the officers who placed the body wire on Alexander testified that their purpose in recording the conversation with appellant was not to obtain information about Mrs. Mayhue's murder, but rather to further investigate appellant's ongoing attempt to kill Commonwealth witnesses, a crime for which appellant had yet to be charged. [13] Thus, we find Massiah and its progeny inapplicable to the case at bar, and hold that statements obtained by the authorities through the lawful investigation of a crime of which the defendant has not yet been accused may be admitted at the defendant's trial on charges for which he had already been indicted at the time the statements were made. [14] Thus, the admission of appellant's statements to Wilbert Alexander did not violate his Sixth Amendment rights.