Court Opinion

ID: 9643684
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:37:33.10492+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:02.261343
License: Public Domain

BROSKY, Judge,
concurring:
I join the majority opinion in its treatment of all issues except (2), whether the verdict was against the weight of all credible evidence. With regard to that issue I concur in the result.
I believe the majority incorrectly treats appellant’s claim that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence as a claim that evidence was insufficient to sustain the jury’s verdict. “[A] new trial may be granted if a verdict is against the weight of the evidence even if the evidence is legally sufficient to sustain a guilty verdict.” Commonwealth v. Bowermaster, 297 Pa.Super. 444, 453, 444 A.2d 115, 119 (1982).
Of course, if appellant’s claim is in substance actually one of insufficiency of the evidence, it should be treated as such. However, the majority does not state that to be the *500case and, while appellant’s argument on this issue could, indeed, create some ambiguity, I believe the issue truly is one of the weight of the evidence.
Before a new trial can be awarded on the ground that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence, it must appear from the record that the verdict was so contrary to the evidence as to shock one’s sense of justice. Commonwealth v. Hennemuth, 294 Pa.Super. 360, 439 A.2d 1241 (1982). I do not find such to be the case from my review of the record and would, accordingly, grant appellant no relief on the issue.1

. Much of appellant’s argument concerns the credibility of the victim’s testimony. It is well established that the credibility of a witness is a matter for determination by the fact-finder; only where the Commonwealth's evidence is “so unreliable or contradictory as to make any verdict based thereon pure conjecture," will an appellate court reverse. Commonwealth v. Farquaharason, 467 Pa. 50, 60-61, 354 A.2d 545, 550 (1976).