Court Opinion

ID: 9640422
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 17:05:49.826339+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:29.730719
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice
(concurring).
I agree that the record contains evidence which is sufficient to support appellant’s conviction of murder in the first degree. However, I believe that additional observations are appropriate.
John Graham (Graham), the Commonwealth’s key witness, testified that in the early afternoon of January 26, 1972, he, appellant and Tate returned to the victims’ house at appellant’s suggestion. Tate forced the victims into Graham’s car with either a .25 or .32 caliber pistol. Shortly after Tate and appellant forced the victims into the Clinkscales’ house, Graham appeared. He quoted Tate as stating: “I want to blow somebody’s . head off anyway . . . . ” Graham left the scene shortly thereafter, at approximately 1:30 p. m.
*423A medical examiner testified that he arrived at the Clinkscales’ house at approximately 7:35 p. m. that evening. The feet of both victims had been tied and drawn up into their backs with heavy rubber cable and both had been shot in the temple. He placed the time of death at between two and six hours prior to his arrival and stated that .25 caliber bullets were recovered from the victims’ heads.
The test for the sufficiency of evidence is “whether, viewing all of the evidence admitted at trial in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth and drawing all reasonable inferences favorable to the Commonwealth, there is sufficient evidence to enable the trier of fact to find every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Commonwealth v. Bastone, 466 Pa. -, -, 353 A.2d 827, 829 (1976); see Commonwealth v. Green, 464 Pa. 557, 565, 347 A.2d 682, 686 (1975); Commonwealth v. Robson, 461 Pa. 615, 625, 337 A.2d 573, 578 (1975).
Here, the evidence shows that appellant initiated the trip to the victims’ house, that he was present in the house when Tate stated his desire to kill the victims and that the victims were tied up in such a manner as to indicate that one person could not have committed the crime alone. Tate’s weapon was identified as either a .25 or ,32 caliber pistol and .25 caliber bullets were recovered from the fatal wounds. When appellant was questioned by Graham concerning the whereabouts of the victims more than a week after the incident, appellant forecefully told Graham to mind his own business and told him that “he don’t know nothing.” Finally, a medical expert estimated the hour of death as being shortly after Graham’s departure from the Clinkscales’ residence.
The evidence in this record, together with all reasonable inferences, is sufficient to enable a jury to find beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant participated in *424these execution-style murders. I therefore concur in the majority’s result.
POMEROY, NIX and MANDERINO, JJ., join in this concurring opinion.