Court Opinion

ID: 9716808
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:51:39.807116+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:49.149515
License: Public Domain

DEL SOLE, Judge,
concurring, in support of affirmance.
I join Judge Cavanaugh and the opinion he expresses in this case, but write separately to note my disagreement with the views set forth in the Dissenting Opinion of Judge Chillo and the Concurring and Dissenting Opinion of Judge Wieand.
This case arises following the district attorney’s decision to pursue charges of reckless endangerment and aggravated assault against Fowlin for his actions which resulted in injury to the bystander. The district attorney was also responsible for concluding that Fowlin’s action towards his attackers was justified. This conclusion resulted in the withdrawal of all *508charges involving Appellant’s attackers, a decision well within the prosecutor’s discretion. However, withdrawing the charges related to the attackers is not binding on the district attorney when deciding to bring reckless endangerment and aggravated assault charges for the injuries to the bystander. Nor would a jury be bound by the Commonwealth’s withdrawal of charges when determining guilt on the reckless endangerment and aggravated assault charges. Thus, I cannot accept Judge Cirillo’s premise that the district attorney’s determination of justifiable self-defense in regard to Fowlin’s shooting of his attackers negates the Commonwealth’s ability to pursue charges resulting from the shooting of an innocent bystander. Had the Commonwealth in this case decided to bring charges against Fowlin for both the actions against the attackers and the related assault of the bystander, a jury verdict, which acquitted of him on the attacker’s related charges, and judged him guilty of reckless endangerment and aggravated assault to the innocent victim, would stand. In fact while it has often been held that a jury may reach inconsistent verdicts, in my judgment such a result would not be inconsistent. Commonwealth v. Miller, 441 Pa.Super. 320, 657 A.2d 946 (1995).
I also cannot adopt the position taken by Judge Wieand in his Concurring and Dissenting Statement in which he finds that the Commonwealth failed to set forth a prima facie case under the circumstances. This conclusion is a determination that the Appellant’s conduct, as a matter of law, does not rise to the culpability level required by the statute. I disagree and believe a prima facie case was clearly established. It is ultimately for a jury to determine whether the justifying purpose of Fowlin’s conduct was greater than the risk it posed to innocent bystanders. See Model Penal Code § 3.09 (1985) This is a matter for a jury to consider and it should not be decided prematurely.
CAVANAUGH and JOHNSON, JJ., join this Opinion.