Court Opinion

ID: 9641783
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:40:21.300264+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:38.362285
License: Public Domain

CERCONE, President Judge:
Appellant was convicted of burglary, criminal mischief, theft by unlawful taking, theft by receiving stolen property, possession of an instrument of crime, and conspiracy on March 20, 1980.1 Appellant was sentenced on the burglary and conspiracy charges to two concurrent terms of three (3) years probation under the Psychiatric Unit. The Court also ordered that an Alcoholic Evaluation be done and that appellant attend a mental health clinic if necessary. The Court conditioned the probation on a requirement that appellant remain employed. Sentence was suspended on the criminal mischief charge.
On August 14, 1979, at approximately 12:22 a.m., Philadelphia police officer, James McGinty responded to a silent alarm at Gerace’s Jewelry Store at 4424 Frankford Avenue. Upon arrival, the officer looked through the window of the jewelry store and saw two white males inside the building. On the scene investigation revealed that all entrances of the store were secured. Police called for a ladder company to bring a ladder to facilitate a check of the roof area. Officer McGinty found a hole in the roof which was approximately nineteen inches wide. Another officer found a small crowbar, screwdriver and pliers about eight to ten inches from the hole.
*512Both actors who had been spotted inside the store were apprehended. One was running from the roof and the other was trapped in an alley way. Both actors had merchandise from the store in their possession;2 both were white male juveniles.
Approximately ten to fifteen minutes after the two males were seen in the store, appellant was found by police approximately fifty feet from the hole, two buildings away, on the roof of the Gas Company. The officer described appellant as lying up against a wall in a fetal position. He testified that it is possible to walk from the roof of the jewelry store to that of the Gas Company by stepping over three two-feet high partitions.
Both parties stipulated that the owner of the premises would testify that on the morning of August 14, 1979, he went to his jewelry store where he saw the ceiling was torn down and there was a hole approximately ten by twelve inches in the roof. He would have testified that he had been at the store at 5:30 the preceding evening and that it had been left secure.
Appellant made no attempt to flee, had no merchandise on him and presented no defense at trial. On the basis of the Commonwealth’s evidence, the Court, sitting without a jury, found the appellant guilty on all counts. We reverse.
In evaluating appellant’s sufficiency of the evidence argument, we must view the facts in a light most favorable to the verdict winner, giving such party the benefit of all reasonable inferences arising therefrom. Then, it must be asked whether the evidence and the reasonable inferences arising from it are sufficient in law to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of the crime or crimes of which he has been convicted. Commonwealth v. Von Aczel, 295 Pa.Superior Ct. 242, 441 A.2d 750, 752 (1981) quoting from Commonwealth v. Herman, 271 Pa.Superior Ct. 145, 412 A.2d 617 (1979). While *513guilt does not have to be established to a mathematical certainty, mere conjecture or surmise is not enough either. Commonwealth v. Lewis, 216 Pa.Superior Ct. 451, 419 A.2d 544 (1980); Commonwealth v. Lovette, 211 Pa.Superior Ct. 250, 413 A.2d 390 (1979). Furthermore, it is well established that the mere presence of an individual at the scene of a crime is not a sufficient circumstance upon which a finding of guilt may be predicated. Commonwealth v. Manson, 230 Pa.Superior Ct. 527, 327 A.2d 182 (1974). What does satisfy the quantum of proof necessary to convict is the combination of factors present pointing to appellant’s active participation in this crime. Commonwealth v. Smith, 490 Pa. 374, 416 A.2d 517 (1980). And, finally, a conspiracy may be inferentially established by showing the relationship, conduct or circumstances of the confederate which demonstrate a unity of purpose to accomplish an unlawful act. Commonwealth v. Cooper, 240 Pa.Superior Ct. 477, 362 A.2d 1041 (1976).
While the discovery by police of a man just two buildings away from the site of a breaking and entering at 12:20 a.m. may conjure up the highest degree of suspicion as to his involvement in the criminal incident, without more, this Court is precluded from connecting appellant with the burglary of the nearby jewelry store unless the connection or association of appellant with those apprehended is established beyond a reasonable doubt insofar as the crime is concerned.
This is consistent with established case law.
In Commonwealth v. Manson, supra, a police officer responded to a burglary call at a certain premises. Arriving there, he saw a co-defendant on the porch of an adjoining property and stopped him. Then he saw appellant standing near a window that had been boarded up, but from which several boards were missing. The officer observed a pile of household goods inside the house next to the window. Appellant told officers on his arrest that he did not go into the premises, but that “the other two guys” did. Nevertheless, this court reversed the judgment of sentence *514because it felt that clear and credible evidence establishing appellant’s participation in the crime was wanting.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in Commonwealth v. Roscioli, 454 Pa. 59, 309 A.2d 396 (1973) and in Commonwealth v. Goodman, 465 Pa. 367, 350 A.2d 810 (1976) found the connection between the crimes committed and the respective appellants as too remote and it therefore reversed the judgments of sentence in both cases. In the Roscioli case, appellant was first seen by police officers outside of premises which were in the process of being burglarized. He was standing with two companions near a phone booth, just one foot from a pane of glass that had been removed to gain entrance to the premises. The Commonwealth argued this proximity, that appellant and his friends fled when the police car arrived, and that appellant had admitted knowing the two suspects who were found inside. In the Goodman case, at 3:00 a.m. while police were detaining a suspect who had emerged carrying a box of meat from a doorway which led to both a burglarized store and a stairway to an upstairs apartment, appellant appeared in the same doorway and was arrested. Both men were ordered to stand against the wall. As the officer approached both men, the suspect threw the meat at him and both men fled in opposite directions.
In both Roscioli and Goodman even the added element of flight was not considered sufficient evidence of involvement when coupled with the presence of appellants at the scenes.
Appellee urges us to consider other “roof-top” burglary cases in which the evidence was found to be sufficient. But we hasten to emphasize that it was not the locus of the appellants on roof-tops per se that constituted sufficient cases, rather other corroborative information evidenced by the surrounding circumstances supplied the missing links in those cases.
For example, in Commonwealth v. Viall, 278 Pa.Superior Ct. 613, 420 A.2d 710 (1980), a police officer was dispatched to a delicatessen for a “burglary in progress”. The officer arrived and found the place had been ransacked. He heard *515footsteps on the roof. Going outside, the officer shone his flashlight directly at a man who was lowering himself over the edge of the same roof. The officer recognized Viall and called to him to stop. Viall fled in the opposite direction, but was apprehended soon after.
In the instant case, two white juveniles were seen inside the jewelry store. Appellant, a black man of twenty-seven years, was spotted lying against a wall two roof-tops away. While Viall’s direct involvement in the burglary can be inferred by the quick chain of events, the lack of other suspects, and his proximity to the premises, the within appellant’s involvement as an accomplice falls short of convincing.
Evidence of accomplice liability was sufficient in Commonwealth v. Whalen, 189 Pa.Superior Ct. 351, 150 A.2d 133 (1959), Commonwealth v. Cimaszewski, 447 Pa. 141, 288 A.2d 805 (1972), and In the Interest of Gonzalez, 255 Pa.Superior Ct. 217, 386 A.2d 586 (1978). In all of these cases, the defendants were spotted on roof-tops. However, in Whalen, circumstances led to a well-nigh conclusive inference that defendant was one of two people seen on a roof through which a burglary was attempted. Additionally, defendant’s spontaneous explanation of his presence there was incredible. In Cimaszewski, in a matter of seconds, police arrived at the scene of a burglary in progress. Two men fled from the rear of the building. One man was apprehended immediately. Noises from the back of the property directed police there, and they saw the first suspect’s brother, the appellant, on the roof of a nearby shed. The court focused on the time involved and the sequence of events as providing the requisite quantum of proof for the defendant’s involvement in the burglary. Finally, in another roof-top case, Gonzalez, the evidence to support a conspiracy to commit a burglary charge was attacked as insufficient. In upholding the conviction, the court first emphasized the Commonwealth’s burden to show at least circumstantial evidence of a corrupt agreement. Then the court explained that testimony established that a *516jewelry store had been broken into, that two individuals were seen jumping from the roof of an adjacent building and running down an alley shortly after the burglar alarm sounded, and that the appellant was one of the two individuals.
In the instant case, there is no evidence of appellant’s being any closer than fifty feet from the scene of a burglary. There is no evidence that appellant ever had his hands on the burglary tools, nor that he acted as a look-out for the juveniles. As the alarm which sounded was silent, without additional information, his distance from them cannot be explained as a desire to escape apprehension for the burglary. And contrary to appellee’s assertion, there was no evidence presented that the roof-top in question was inaccessible by ordinary means.
In fact, the evidence is as consistent with the inference that appellant was on the Gas Company roof, two buildings away, uninvolved in what was occurring, as it is with the inference that appellant was a participant in the burglary. Hence, appellant’s guilt is not proved beyond a reasonable doubt, and the conviction may not stand.
Judgment of sentence reversed and appellant discharged.
MONTEMURO, J., files a dissenting opinion.

. The lower court granted appellant’s motion in arrest of judgment as to possession of an instrument of crime, but denied his other post-verdict motions on May 15, 1980.

. These were an Accutron watch valued at $250.00 and 2 knives valued at $1 each.