Com. v. $6,425.00 SEIZED FROM ESQUILIN

• Citation: 583 Pa. 544,880 A.2d 523
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. $6,425.00 Seized from Richard ESQUILIN, Appellee.
• Decision Date: 15 August 2005
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

880 A.2d 523

583 Pa. 544

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. $6,425.00 Seized from Richard ESQUILIN, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued April 11, 2005.

Decided August 15, 2005.

Hugh J. Burns, Esq., Jonathan Michael Levy, Esq., Ronald Eisenberg, Esq., Philadelphia, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Anthony J. Petrone, Esq., Philadelphia, for Robert Esquilin.

BEFORE: CAPPY, C.J., and CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR, EAKIN and BAER, JJ.

OPINION

Justice CASTILLE.

This appeal raises questions concerning the proper inferences available in a forfeiture case, as well as the proper standard for reviewing a trial court's forfeiture determination. The Commonwealth Court panel in this case overturned the trial court's determination that $6,425.00 in cash found on appellee Richard Esquilin¹ subsequent to his arrest for participating as the "money man" in illegal drug transactions was subject to forfeiture. In ordering the entire sum forfeited, the trial court found: (1) that a sufficient nexus existed between the money and the illegal drug transactions to deem the cash subject to forfeiture, and (2) that appellee failed to show that the money was lawfully acquired. The Commonwealth Court affirmed the forfeiture only as to $60.00, while reversing as to the remaining $6,365.00, finding that there was an insufficient nexus between the remaining portion of the money and drug dealing. For the reasons set forth below, we find that the trial court correctly determined that the entire amount of money should be forfeited. Accordingly, we reverse the order of the Commonwealth Court and reinstate the trial court's forfeiture order.

The facts surrounding this appeal are as follows. On June 18, 2000, at approximately 8:00 p.m., officers from the Philadelphia Police Narcotics Strike Force began surveillance in the West Kensington section of Philadelphia. Officer Spicer observed appellee standing on the sidewalk with Miguel Burgos, in front of 2810 North Lee Street.² At 8:10 p.m., Richard Negron approached the two men and, after a brief conversation, handed an unknown amount of money to Burgos. Burgos then reached into the front of his pants and pulled out small objects which he handed to Negron. At 8:25 p.m., an unknown Hispanic female approached the two men and also gave money to Burgos in exchange for small objects from the front of Burgos' pants. Burgos immediately handed this money to appellee. At 8:35 p.m., Ishmael Cruz walked up to Burgos and engaged in a brief conversation before giving money to Burgos in exchange for small objects that Burgos removed from the front of his pants. Burgos again handed the money to appellee.

Officers stopped Negron and Cruz after they had left the area, but were unable to locate the Hispanic female. An officer stopped Negron while he was a passenger in a car, at which time Negron tossed from the car one clear zip-lock packet containing crack-cocaine. Officer Burgess stopped Cruz and recovered from him one clear zip-lock packet containing crack-cocaine. Officer Jones, acting on this information, then arrested appellee. In a search incident to the arrest, Officer Jones recovered $6,425.00³ in cash, comprising: forty-eight one hundred-dollar bills, two fifty-dollar bills, sixty-nine twenty-dollar bills, eight ten-dollar bills, eleven five-dollar bills, and ten one-dollar bills. Officer Twist arrested and searched Burgos, recovering three zip-lock packets of cocaine and $7.00 in cash. Appellee was charged with criminal conspiracy and possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver, but the charges were ultimately dismissed pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 600, for lack of a prompt trial.

In the meantime, the Commonwealth filed a petition for forfeiture of the $6,425.00 in cash seized from appellee. The trial court, per the Honorable Denis P. Cohen, held a hearing on the matter on June 13, 2002. No testimony was taken because the parties agreed to have the matter decided based solely on documentary evidence. That evidence included: a three-page police investigation report, dated June 22, 2000; five police property receipts, dated June 18, 2000; five chemistry laboratory reports, dated August 3, 2000; appellee's answers to interrogatories; bank account statements; and a copy of a cancelled check. After considering the evidence, the trial court ordered the entire $6,425.00 forfeited.

Appellee filed a notice of appeal to the Commonwealth Court, followed by a statement of matters complained of on appeal, pursuant to Pa.R.A.P.1925(b). In its Pa. R.A.P 1925(a) opinion, the trial court held that the police officers had probable cause to arrest and search appellee, whom they saw acting as the money man in three obvious drug transactions; therefore, the cash was properly seized incident to a lawful arrest. The trial court also found that the Commonwealth established that the $6,425.00 was used to facilitate violations, or represented the proceeds of violations, of The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act ("Controlled Substance Act").⁴ The trial court concluded that the Commonwealth established a nexus between the money seized and the illegal drug transactions police had observed, and concluded that the documents offered into evidence by appellee did not establish that the money was lawfully acquired. The trial court also noted that appellee had failed to offer any explanation for his activities on June 18, 2000, to counter the evidence that he was the money man in an illegal drug operation.

On appeal, a panel of the Commonwealth Court affirmed in part and reversed in part in a memorandum opinion, authored by the Honorable Rochelle S. Friedman, filed on August 6, 2003. The panel affirmed the trial court's finding that the officers had probable cause to arrest and search appellee, but reversed the finding that all of the $6,425.00 in cash was used to facilitate violations, or represented the proceeds of violations, of the Controlled Substance Act. The panel believed that it was reasonable for the trial court to conclude that, as witnessed by the officers, Burgos had handed money to appellee from the drug sales to Negron, Cruz and the unknown Hispanic female, each transaction having an estimated value of $20.00. Thus, the panel found sufficient support for the trial court's forfeiture order as to $60.00 of the money found on appellee. As for the rest of the money, however, the panel believed there was no evidence to support the conclusion that it was connected with illegal drug dealing. In light of its conclusion that no nexus was shown between the remainder of the money and a violation of the Controlled Substance Act, the panel did not pass upon whether appellee had offered an innocent explanation for his possession of the money. Accordingly, the panel affirmed the trial court's grant of the forfeiture petition with respect to $60.00, but reversed with respect to the remaining $6,365.00.

On further appeal to this Court, the Commonwealth now argues that the Commonwealth Court improperly reweighed the evidence and refused to accord it the benefit of all reasonable inferences, notwithstanding that it was the prevailing party at trial. The Commonwealth submits that, when the evidence is properly viewed, it clearly proved by a preponderance of the evidence the nexus between the money and illegal drugs: appellee stood with Burgos, conducting street sales of illegal drugs; at least a portion of the money seized had directly facilitated the very drug transactions police had witnessed; and the fact-finder found appellee's assertions of a legitimate source for the funds to be implausible. Given the totality of the circumstances, the Commonwealth submits that the trial court correctly inferred that all of the money possessed by appellee, who was observed participating in illegal drug sales, was forfeitable. The Commonwealth submits that, in overturning the trial court's assessment of the evidence, the panel overstepped its limited authority as a reviewing court and substituted its own judgment.

The Commonwealth further argues that appellee's failure to provide an innocent explanation for his activities on the night of June 18, 2000, corroborated its evidence that the money was tied to illegal drug dealing. In the Commonwealth's view, the absence of any innocent explanation logically suggests that the unusually large amount of cash that appellee had in his possession while selling cocaine on the street was related to that very enterprise, i.e., it was either "proceeds from illegal street transactions, or the recent sale of a substantial amount of drugs, or intended to be used to purchase a substantial amount of drugs." Brief for Appellant, 15. The Commonwealth argues that appellee's failure to provide a credible explanation of a non-drug source for the large sum of cash likewise supports the trial court's forfeiture finding. The Commonwealth notes that appellee's proffered explanation—that the cash had been withdrawn from a bank account owned by Madeline Soberal, the mother of his children, almost three weeks prior to his arrest, and that the money was to be used for repairs to a house he had recently purchased—was rejected as implausible by the trial judge and it argues that that finding is not subject to reweighing on appeal.

The Commonwealth argues that the trial court's forfeiture finding here was consistent with this Court's decisions in Commonwealth v. Fontanez, 559 Pa. 92, 739 A.2d 152 (1999), and Commonwealth v. Marshall, 548 Pa. 495, 698 A.2d 576 (1997), cases in which this Court overturned forfeiture orders. The Commonwealth distinguishes Fontanez and Marshall because there was no evidence of the claimant's participation in illegal drug sales in those cases, a crucial evidentiary void which led to this Court's conclusions that a claimant's mere possession of a significant amount of cash did not prove, even indirectly, a violation of the Controlled Substance ...