Court Opinion

ID: 9715764
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:13:43.637265+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:37.895926
License: Public Domain

VAN der VOORT, Judge,
dissenting.
The majority here holds that if during a trial three references are made to a photographic identification of the defendant he or she must be awarded a new trial. I respectfully disagree.
*103Commonwealth v. Allen, 448 Pa. 177, 292 A.2d 373 (1972) rejected a per se rule requiring a new trial whenever a photographic identification is mentioned before a jury. A reviewing court must instead look to the record to see if a jury was prejudiced against the defendant by such references. The question becomes whether a juror could reasonably infer that an accused had engaged in prior criminal conduct. Commonwealth v. Craft, 455 Pa. 616, 317 A.2d 213 (1974). I find that Commonwealth v. Krasner, 285 Pa.Superior Ct. 389, 427 A.2d 1169 (1981) (En Banc, with Dissenting Opinion by Spaeth, J., joined by Cercone, P. J., dissenting on other grounds) should control here.
In Krasner, the Commonwealth twice elicited testimony regarding such an identification. This Court noted that there was no indication that the pictures were mug shots or obtained from a police file. The Court held that except for the fact that they were displayed by a police officer the photographs did not link the defendant to any prior crime. The current appeal is very similar. Nor do I believe that a jury could reasonably infer prior criminal conduct from the fact that the identification occurred at a police station. Contra, Commonwealth v. Dickerson, 267 Pa.Superior Ct. 492, 406 A.2d 1149 (1979) (Three Judge Panel, Per Curiam). The only distinction between this case and Krasner is the lower court’s mention of the photographic identification in its summation of the evidence. I do not believe that this third reference, by the court, requires a result contrary to the result in Krasner. But see, Craft, supra.
In the current appeal approximately 200 pages of testimony were taken over the two days and the court’s charge to the jury consists of an additional thirty-one (31) pages. I fail to understand how these three brief references, out of almost 250 pages of notes taken, requires the grant of a new trial. See Commonwealth v. Wilson, 238 Pa.Superior Ct. 340, 357 A.2d 163 (1976). Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment of sentence.