Com. ex rel. Pizzo v. Aytch

• Citation: 273 Pa.Super. 55,416 A.2d 1086
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania ex rel. Alfred PIZZO v. Louis AYTCH, Superintendent Philadelphia County Prison. Appeal of Alfred PIZZO. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania ex rel. Vincent FRANCESE v. Louis AYTCH, Superintendent Philadelphia County Prison. Appeal of Vincent FRANCESE.
• Decision Date: 21 December 1979
• Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania

Page 1086

416 A.2d 1086 273 Pa.Super. 55 COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania ex rel. Alfred PIZZO
v.
Louis AYTCH, Superintendent Philadelphia County Prison.
Appeal of Alfred PIZZO.
COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania ex rel. Vincent FRANCESE
v.
Louis AYTCH, Superintendent Philadelphia County Prison.
Appeal of Vincent FRANCESE. Superior Court of Pennsylvania. Argued Sept. 12, 1978.
Filed Dec. 21, 1979.

[273 Pa.Super. 57] J. Shane Creamer, Philadelphia, for appellants.

Page 1087

Robert B. Lawler, Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, for appellee.

Before PRICE, HESTER and HOFFMAN, JJ.

PRICE, Judge:

These appeals arise from the orders of the court of common pleas denying petitions for writs of habeas corpus in an extradition proceeding, and ordering appellants to be remanded to the custody of the appropriate New Jersey authorities. For the reasons stated herein, we affirm.

On February 1, 1977, Detective Edward O'Shea of the Philadelphia Police department received information from Detective Forsyth, a New Jersey police officer, that Cannataro's Jewelry Store in Gloucester Township, New Jersey, had just been robbed. Detective Forsyth informed Detective O'Shea that the owner of the store, Mr. Cannataro, identified the robbers as Jimmy Boy Colozzi, Freddie, and Vince. Mr. Cannataro also provided a physical description of the suspects and of the clothes they were wearing at the time of the robbery. Detective O'Shea indicated to Detective Forsyth that he knew Mr. Colozzi by sight and would attempt to locate him and the other suspects.

Obtaining Mr. Colozzi's home address, Detective O'Shea, accompanied by other officers, staked out the suspect's premises and a local bar which he was know to frequent. Shortly thereafter, the detective observed Mr. Colozzi and two other men, all of whom fit the description supplied by [273 Pa.Super. 58] Detective Forsyth, walking down 7th Street. All three were arrested, and complaints sworn out against them by Detective Forsyth.

On April 18, 1977, the Honorable Milton V. Shapp, then Governor of Pennsylvania, executed a Governor's Warrant for the arrest of the above individuals pursuant to a formal request by the Governor of New Jersey. ¹ Appellants were arrested on the strength of these warrants on June 8, 1977. They subsequently filed writs of habeas corpus, and hearings were held thereon on August 9, and 16 of 1977 before the Honorable Edward J. Blake. At the hearing, the sole witness called for the Commonwealth was Detective O'Shea, who detailed the circumstances surrounding appellants' initial arrest as described above. He also identified appellants as two of the three individuals he arrested on February 1, 1977, in Philadelphia. The only other evidence introduced by the Commonwealth was the Governor's Warrants and accompanying documents. Included in the latter were the sworn affidavits of Ernest Cannataro identifying appellants as the miscreants, together with pictures of each. ² Appellants[273 Pa.Super. 59] presented no evidence, and the petitions were denied on September 14, 1977.

Page 1088

Appellants ³ now contend that the Commonwealth failed to muster sufficient credible evidence to prove either that they were in New Jersey at the time of the alleged crime, or that they were indeed the individuals named in the requisition documents. We disagree.

This court has recently reiterated the requirements of an extradition proceeding:

"It has often been repeated that extradition will be ordered if: (1) the subject of extradition is charged with a crime in the demanding state; (2) the subject of extradition is a fugitive from the demanding state; (3) the subject of extradition was present in the demanding state at the time of the commission of the crime; and (4) the requisition papers are in order. Commonwealth ex rel. Coades v. Gable, 437 Pa. 553, 264 A.2d 716 (1970); Commonwealth ex rel. Kelly v. Aytch, 254 Pa.Super. 28...