Court Opinion

ID: 9766359
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 04:43:12.047826+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:20.920697
License: Public Domain

CASTILLE, Justice,
Dissenting.
By his own admission, appellant forcibly broke into the home of his former girlfriend, Krista Jill Omatick, in the middle of the night, wielding a loaded, .40 caliber, semiautomatic handgun. Once inside, he shot Ms. Omatick at point-blank range through the left eye, killing her. He then proceeded to the upstairs bedroom, where he shot John Eric Pistininzi once in the chest, killing him.
The majority now awards appellant a new trial because it believes that Ms. Omatick’s out-of-court statement, made one week before the killing, and admitted for the limited purpose of revealing her state of mind regarding the deteriorating state of her relationship with appellant, was “completely irrelevant.” This is so, the majority states, because appellant admitted the killings, but defended upon a theory that the victims “seriously provoked” him into a “sudden and intense passion” which rendered him guilty, at most, of voluntary manslaughter. See 18 Pa.C.S. § 2503(a). The so-called provocation consisted of the fact that, as he was trespassing upon Ms. Omatick’s porch in the middle of the night, the armed appellant heard sounds which convinced him that Ms. Omatick *32and Mr. Pistininzi were having sexual relations inside her residence. Appellant’s provocation defense, the majority concludes, rendered Omatick’s state of mind respecting her ultimately fatal relationship with appellant irrelevant.
In my view, the disputed evidence was unquestionably relevant both to the first-degree murder charges and to rebut the defense that the killings resulted from sudden provocation rather than premeditation. Furthermore, even if I agreed with the majority that the evidence was irrelevant, I would find its admission to be harmless under the circumstances in this case where appellant admitted responsibility for the killings and where the provocation/heat of passion defense was, in my view, inadequate as a matter of law.
Finally, I write to express my view that Ms. Omatick’s relevant statement should have been admissible for the truth of the matter asserted and not subject to a state of mind evidentiary limitation, since it was appellant’s own criminal conduct that caused the victim’s unavailability. By killing Ms. Omatick, appellant waived any objection to the admission of her out-of-court statement. The Pennsylvania Rules of Evidence (and the corresponding Federal Rules of Evidence), which will apply at the retrial ordered by the majority, specifically recognize that a party forfeits any hearsay objection to the out-of-court statement of an unavailable witness where, as here, the party’s own misconduct caused the witness’s unavailability. Thus, upon retrial, the Commonwealth will be free to press for the admission of the statement as relevant, direct evidence of guilt. This fact renders the majority’s grant of a new trial particularly inappropriate. For all of these reasons, I respectfully dissent.
A homicide victim’s out-of-court statements revealing her view of her relationship with her killer have consistently been deemed admissible by this Court. As Justice Nigro noted in Commonwealth v. Chandler, 554 Pa. 401, 411, 721 A.2d 1040, 1045 (1998), such statements are admissible “under the ‘state of mind’ exception to the hearsay rule because [the victim’s] opinion of [the relationship] [goes] to the presence of ill will, malice, or motive for the killing.” See also Commonwealth v. *33Fletcher, 561 Pa. 266, 293-94, 750 A.2d 261, 276 (2000), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 1035, 121 S.Ct. 623, 148 L.Ed.2d 533 (2000) (murder victim’s statement was relevant to his state of mind regarding relationship with defendant and, therefore, admissible to prove presence of ill will, malice or motive for killing); Commonwealth v. Puksar, 559 Pa. 358, 368 n. 6, 740 A.2d 219, 225 n. 6 (1999), cert. denied, 531 U.S. 829, 121 S.Ct. 79, 148 L.Ed.2d 42 (2000) (victim’s statement that he did not trust defendant and that victim and defendant were involved in dispute admissible .under state of mind exception to prove presence of ill will, malice, or motive for killing); Commonwealth v. Collins, 550 Pa. 46, 58-60, 703 A.2d 418, 424-25 (1997), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1015, 119 S.Ct. 538, 142 L.Ed.2d 447 (1998) (statements relevant under state of mind exception to prove, inter alia, motive).
Initially, I cannot agree with the majority’s conclusion that the fact that appellant claimed that noises from Ms. Omatick’s apartment provoked him to break into her home and commit a double homicide rendered the victim’s perception of their relationship irrelevant. To the contrary, a fair inference arising from Ms. Omatick’s statement that appellant had told her that he would kill her if he caught her with another man was that, in Ms. Omatick’s eyes at least, her broken relationship with appellant was troubled and did not end amicably. This fact, in turn, was relevant to suggest that these were not heat of passion killings, as appellant claimed in retrospect, but killings that were motivated by a long-simmering and deep-seated malice and ill-will arising from appellant’s jealous refusal to accept the termination of his relationship with Ms. Omatick. As such, the evidence directly rebutted the defense claim that appellant was acting out of a “sudden, intense” passion provoked by the victims’ conduct when he killed them.
In addition, this evidence was probative of the elements of first-degree murder; thus, the Commonwealth was entitled to present it to discharge its affirmative burden of proof irrespective of the defense that appellant forwarded. I do not see how evidence otherwise relevant to the Commonwealth’s affirmative burden suddenly loses its relevance merely because the *34accused forwards one defense or another. Because evidence of Ms. Omatick’s state of mind was probative of the nature of her relationship with appellant, and that relationship was probative of appellant’s own state of mind at the time of the killings, the evidence was relevant to the degree of guilt and properly admitted for that purpose.
Even if I could agree with the majority that the victim’s statement was inadmissible because her state of mind was irrelevant, I could not join in the award of a new trial because, in light of the contested issues in this trial, appellant was not prejudiced by the admission of such evidence. The trial court explicitly instructed the jury on two separate occasions as to the limited evidentiary purpose of this evidence: i.e., that it could consider Ms. Omatick’s statement only as evidence of her state of mind. R.R. 594-595, 761-762. The jury, of course, is presumed to follow such limiting instructions. See Commonwealth v. Gease, 548 Pa. 165, 175, 696 A.2d 130, 135 (1997), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 935, 118 S.Ct. 343, 139 L.Ed.2d 266 (1997). Thus, there was little danger that the jury would consider this evidence for any other reason than that instructed by the trial judge. On such a record, the very fact that the majority deems the evidence irrelevant should make its admission harmless.
Furthermore, I fail to see how the evidence can be said to have prejudiced appellant since the defense of provocation was simply absurd, and the evidence of guilt for first-degree murder was correspondingly overwhelming. For relevant purposes here, a verdict of heat of passion voluntary manslaughter would have been appropriate only if, at the time of the killing, the killer was acting “under a sudden and intense passion resulting from serious provocation” by the individual killed. 18 Pa.C.S. § 2503(a). “[Wjhether a certain quantum of provocation is sufficient to support the defense of voluntary manslaughter is purely an objective standard.” Commonwealth v. Thornton, 494 Pa. 260, 268, 431 A.2d 248, 252 (1981). “[T]he ultimate test for adequate provocation remains whether a reasonable man, confronted with this series of events, be*35came impassioned to the extent that his mind was incapable of cool reflection.” Id.
Here, as the majority recognizes, there was no question that appellant intentionally killed both victims. The only question raised in defense was whether the victims “seriously provoked” appellant in a legally relevant way such that the killings could be deemed to have been the product of a “sudden and intense passion.” In my view, as a matter of law, the victims did nothing that could quality by any stretch of the imagination as legal provocation. The alleged act of “provocation” arises from appellant’s claim that he heard sounds that led him to believe that Ms. Omatick was having sexual relations with another man. Of course, appellant heard these sounds only after “sneaking up” uninvited to Ms. Omatick’s residence in the middle of the night, and eavesdropping from her porch, while wielding a loaded semi-automatic handgun. Furthermore, appellant placed himself in that position only after Ms. Omatick had told him over the phone that she did not wish to see him that evening. At the time appellant “snuck up” on Ms. Omatick, the two were no longer paramours and were no longer living together; nor was there any cognizable legal connection between them.
Even viewing these facts in the light most favorable to the defense, they do not support a provocation defense. Indeed, the only provocation here arose from appellant’s conduct. This is not a case where a defendant walks into his own bedroom, for example, only to be surprised to find his wife with another man. Appellant had no “right” to be where he was when he heard the “provoking” sounds. Nor did appellant suddenly stumble upon the alleged provocation; rather, his actions in the middle of this night amounted to stalking his former paramour. Furthermore, the fact that appellant brought a loaded semi-automatic handgun with him heavily suggests, not that he “stumbled upon” upon a provoking act, but rather that he was aggressively seeking a confrontation, one that he was fully prepared to handle with deadly force. This smacks only of premeditation.
*36The perfectly lawful act that appellant believed the victims were engaged in was none of appellant’s business. The ensuing confrontation was one that appellant aggressively sought out; indeed, it was one he apparently armed himself for in anticipation thereof. I would hold as a matter of law that a reasonable person cannot be said to have been “provoked” at all by such circumstances of his own creation, much less provoked to such an extent that he lacked the capacity for cool reflection. See Commonwealth v. Speight, 544 Pa. 451, 466, 677 A.2d 317, 324 (1996), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1119, 117 S.Ct. 967, 136 L.Ed.2d 852 (1997) (no heat of passion voluntary manslaughter instruction warranted where evidence established that defendant and cohorts approached group of unarmed men on public street comer and shot at them); Commonwealth v. Watson, 523 Pa. 51, 61, 565 A.2d 132, 137 (1989) (“not even a scintilla of evidence” to establish sufficient legal provocation to support voluntary manslaughter claim where defendant, who was aware that his ex-girlfriend had a new boyfriend, shot her two weeks after moving out of her residence, had applied to purchase gun two days before shooting, picked up gun two hours before shooting and had threatened to kill victim on two prior occasions); Commonwealth v. Collins, 440 Pa. 368, 374, 269 A.2d 882, 885 (1970) (defendant’s suspicion that his wife had been seeing another man while he was incarcerated “d[id] not come close” to amounting to serious provocation necessary to warrant voluntary manslaughter charge).
Given the overwhelming evidence of the calculated nature of appellant’s conduct that night, and the correspondingly insufficient evidence supporting the heat of passion defense, Ms. Omatick’s out-of-court statements, admitted only to show her state of mind, cannot possibly have prejudiced appellant. Accordingly, he is not entitled to a new trial.
Finally, Ms. Omatick’s statement relating appellant’s threat to kill her should be deemed admissible not merely to show her state of mind, but also for the truth of the matter asserted as affirmative evidence of appellant’s guilt. So admitted, Ms. Omatick’s statement would establish that, at or about the time *37she directed appellant to move out, he told her that if he could not have her, and if he ever caught her with another man, he would kill them both. The threat would be highly probative of premeditation and deliberation and would rebut the heat of passion defense. The successful objection to admission of the statement .for its truth was that it was hearsay. In my view, however, appellant waived or forfeited any such objection by himself being the agent of Ms. Omatick’s unavailability. Indeed, any other approach provides an absurd evidentiary incentive and reward for murder.
The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment provides that, “in ail criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right ... to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” This is a fundamental right, Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 404, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 1068, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1965), and is designed to secure for the defendant the opportunity of cross-examination. See Delaware v. Van Arsdall, 475 U.S. 673, 678, 106 S.Ct. 1431, 1435, 89 L.Ed.2d 674 (1986) (“[t]he main and essential purpose of confrontation is to secure for the opponent the opportunity of cross-examination”). See generally United States v. Dhinsa, 243 F.3d 635, 650-51 (2d Cir.2001). The proscription against hearsay, of course, protects values similar to those protected by the Confrontation Clause. See Idaho v. Wright, 497 U.S. 805, 814, 110 S.Ct. 3139, 3146, 111 L.Ed.2d 638 (1990). Nevertheless, they are not coextensive and, thus, the Confrontation Clause may act to bar evidence that might otherwise be admissible pursuant to a settled exception to the hearsay rule. Id.
Relevant to the analysis here is the fact that it has long been recognized that a defendant can waive his Sixth Amendment right of confrontation and, a fortiori, his hearsay objection, to the admission of an unavailable witness’s statements where it was the defendant’s own misconduct that rendered the witness unavailable.1 The notion that the defendant’s *38misconduct in procuring a witness’s absence forfeits the right of confrontation has been justified as a matter of “simple equity” and “common sense:”
It is hard to imagine a form of misconduct more extreme than the murder of a potential witness. Simple equity supports a forfeiture principle, as does a common sense attention to the need for fit incentives. The defendant who has removed an adverse witness is in a weak position to complain about losing the chance to cross-examine him. And where a defendant has silenced a witness through the use of threats, violence or murder, admission of the victim’s prior statements at least partially offsets the perpetrator’s rewards for his misconduct. We have no hesitation in finding, in league with all circuits to have considered the matter, that a defendant who wrongfully procures the absence of a witness or potential witness may not assert confrontation rights as to that witness.
United States v. White, 116 F.3d 903, 911 (D.C.Cir.1997). See also Dhinsa, 243 F.3d at 651-52. The Dhinsa Court recognized that this “waiver by misconduct” rule does no more than give force to the “maxim that ‘the law [will not] allow a person to take advantage of his own wrong.’ ” 243 F.3d at 652, quoting Diaz v. United States, 223 U.S. 442, 458, 32 S.Ct. 250, 255, 56 L.Ed. 500 (1912) (intervening quotation omitted).
Federal Circuits other than the Second Circuit and the District of Columbia Circuit have likewise embraced the waiver by misconduct rule. See, e.g., United States v. Houlihan, 92 F.3d 1271, 1278-79 (1st Cir.1996) (defendants waived confrontation rights by murdering potential witness to prevent him from turning state’s evidence); United States v. Rouco, 765 F.2d 983, 995 (11th Cir.1985) (same); Steele v. Taylor, 684 F.2d 1193, 1203-04 (6th Cir.1982) (defendant pimp who used influence and control over prostitute to induce her to refuse to *39testify waived confrontation rights); United States v. Thevis, 665 F.2d 616, 630 (5th Cir. Unit B 1982) (defendant who murdered potential witness to prevent him from turning state’s evidence and/or testifying against him waived confrontation rights); United States v. Balano, 618 F.2d 624, 628 (10th Cir.1979) (defendant whose threats prevented potential witness from testifying waived confrontation rights); United States v. Carlson, 547 F.2d 1346, 1360 (8th Cir.1976) (defendant who intimidated witness to assure unavailability at trial waived confrontation rights). Indeed, the rule is so universally recognized that, effective December 1997, the Federal Rules of Evidence explicitly adopted the doctrine as a hearsay exception. See Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(6) (“Forfeiture by Wrongdoing”).2
Appellant’s admitted killing of Ms. Omatick, which prevented her from appearing in court and testifying against him, amounted to the ultimate example of extreme misconduct. In my view, it is misconduct the type of which operates to waive or forfeit any confrontation/hearsay-based objection to relevant, out-of-court statements the victim made before appellant killed her. There is something deeply offensive about the notion that one can murder another and then object to admission of the victim’s statements on the ground that the witness is “unavailable” for confrontation at trial. Appellant already had his confrontation with the victims; he selected his .40 caliber semi-automatic as the arbiter of his dispute. In light of these circumstances, I would hold that Ms. Omatick’s relevant statement was admissible for the truth of the matter asserted, and not merely as evidence of her state of mind. Thus, I would affirm the trial court’s ruling on this additional, distinct ground. That appellant received a windfall in the *40statement being admitted for a more narrow purpose certainly does not entitle him to relief.
Finally, I would note that, after the trial in this matter, this Court embraced the concept of forfeiture of confrontation by wrongdoing when it adopted Rules of Evidence, which included verbatim the “Forfeiture by Wrongdoing” exception to hearsay contained in Fed.R.Evid. 804(b)(6). Thus, the Pennsylvania Rules of Evidence now state, as an exception to the hearsay rule, the constitutional waiver doctrine described above. Pa.R.Evid. 804(b)(6) provides that, “[a] statement offered against a party that has engaged or acquiesced in wrongdoing that was intended to, and did, procure the unavailability of the declarant as a witness” is not excludable on hearsay grounds. This Rule, which became effective October 1, 1998, will be available at the retrial the majority now orders. That the statement upon which the majority grants relief should be admissible upon retrial for a broader, relevant purpose further demonstrates the error in the majority opinion reversing and precipitously granting a new trial.
Therefore, I respectfully dissent.

. The United States Supreme Court has recognized that criminal defendants can waive their right to confrontation through misconduct. See Illinois v. Allen, 397 U.S. 337, 343, 90 S.Ct. 1057, 1060-61, 25 L.Ed.2d 353 (1970) (defendant waives his confrontation right and right to be *38present at trial by repeatedly "conducting himself in a manner so disorderly, disruptive, and disrespectful of the court that his trial cannot be carried on with him in the courtroom"); Snyder v. Massachusetts, 291 U.S. 97, 106, 54 S.Ct. 330, 332, 78 L.Ed. 674 (1934) ("No doubt the privilege [to confront one’s accusers and cross-examine them] may be lost by consent or at times even by misconduct”).

. Rule 804(b)(6) provides as follows:
(b) Hearsay Exceptions. The following are not excluded by the hearsay rule if the declarant is unavailable as a witness:
(6) Forfeiture by Wrongdoing. A statement offered against a party that has engaged or acquiesced in wrongdoing that was intended to, and did, procure the unavailability of the declarant as a witness.
Fed.REvid. 804(b)(6).