Court Opinion

ID: 9635364
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 13:48:44.972716+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:09:25.668084
License: Public Domain

*495CERCONE, President Judge:
I dissent.
While I agree with the majority that there are many ways by which the Commonwealth might have proved appellant’s age, I do not find these to be dispositive of appellant’s contention in the instant case, where the trial judge, sitting as a factfinder, specifically and singly listed appellant’s pre-trial colloquy as the court’s basis for finding appellant to be over eighteen. Though the general rule is that a judge, as factfinder, is presumed to disregard inadmissible evidence and consider only competent evidence, Commonwealth v. Davis, 491 Pa. 363, 421 A.2d 179 (1980); Commonwealth v. Glover, 266 Pa.Superior Ct. 531, 405 A.2d 945 (1979), this presumption has been negated in appellant’s case by the express statements of the trial judge in his opinion. As we said in Commonwealth v. Alston, 266 Pa.Superior Ct. 18, 21, 402 A.2d 1056, 1057 (1979), “[I]f there is any reasonable ground to conclude that the arguably tainted evidence in issue may have contributed to the conviction, it is not appropriate to find the error harmless. Commonwealth v. Laws, 474 Pa. 318, 378 A.2d 812 (1977).” Accord Commonwealth v. Davis, supra; Commonwealth v. Oliver, 273 Pa.Superior Ct. 140, 416 A.2d 1128 (1979); Commonwealth v. Hart, 272 Pa.Superior Ct. 189, 414 A.2d 1071 (1979). Indeed, our Supreme Court has ruled that “an error is harmless only if the appellate court is convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the error is harmless.” Commonwealth v. Story, 476 Pa. 391, 406, 383 A.2d 155, 162 (1978) (footnote deleted). The term “harmless” was defined by the Supreme Court as follows:
[A]n error cannot be held harmless unless the appellate court determines that the error could not have contributed to the verdict. Whenever there is a “ ‘reasonable possibility’ ” that an error “ ‘might have contributed to the conviction, ’ ” the error is not harmless. Commonwealth v. Davis, [452 Pa. 171, 178, 305 A.2d 715, 719 *496(1973)] quoting Chapman v. California [386 U.S. 18, 24, 87 S.Ct. 824, 828, 17 L.Ed.2d 705 (1967) ]
Id., 476 Pa. at 412, 383 A.2d at 164. (emphasis added.)
Therefore, I would reverse.