Com. v. Appel

• Decision Date: 15 April 1997
• Citation: 689 A.2d 891,547 Pa. 171
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Martin D. APPEL, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 891

689 A.2d 891

547 Pa. 171

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Martin D. APPEL, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted June 27, 1996.

Decided Jan. 28, 1997.

Reargument Denied April 15, 1997.

[547 Pa. 177] Michael Wiseman, Billy H. Nolas, Philadelphia, for Martin Appel.

John Morganelli, Bethlehem, Robert A. Graci, Harrisburg, for Com.

Before FLAHERTY, C.J., and ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO and NEWMAN, JJ.

OPINION

NEWMAN, Justice.

This is an appeal from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County that denied Martin D. Appel's (Appel) Petition for Relief pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act, 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541 et seq. (PCRA) ¹ and vacated a stay of execution of the death penalty. We affirm the Order of the Court of Common Pleas (trial court).

I. Facts and Procedural History

In Commonwealth v. Appel, 517 Pa. 529, 539 A.2d 780 (1988) (Appel I ), we summarized the facts of the case as follows:

[I]n early May of 1986, appellant decided to rob a bank. He enlisted the aid of a friend, Stanley Herzog, believing that his plan would require at least two persons in order to ensure that all persons who might be in the bank at the time of the robbery could be executed before an alarm could be pressed. It was also crucial to appellant's plan that no eyewitness survive. The East Allen Township branch of the First National Bank of Bath was selected as the target. Preliminary to the actual robbery, appellant and Herzog broke into the bank during the early morning hours of May 29, 1986, to ascertain the nature of the layout of the bank and the nature of its security system. During this burglary, the two men vandalized the bank in an attempt to deceive the police as to the purpose of the break-in. Appellant and Herzog then purchased handguns, appellant selecting a nine millimeter handgun for maximum 'firepower.' They practiced for the robbery by shooting at human silhouette targets. Appellant also took measures to estimate the time it would take the police to respond in the event the robbery would be reported while in progress.

On June 6, 1986, appellant and Herzog drove to the vicinity of the bank. Appellant, using a pay telephone, communicated a bomb threat to the airport located across the street from the State Police barracks closest to the targeted bank. He also telephoned the bomb threat to an Allentown radio station as well as the Allentown police. Appellant and Herzog then drove to the bank, entered, concealing their handguns, and each approached tellers' windows for the ostensible purpose of obtaining change. Appellant shot both tellers in the back as they were attempting to comply with the request. One, Janice Confer, fell to the floor wounded. The other, Hazel Evans, was killed instantly. Appellant next fired two shots at the branch manager, Marcia Hauser, but missed. He then shot across the lobby at a bank official, Jane Hartman, and a customer with whom she had been conversing. The customer was wounded but survived. Ms. Hartman dropped to the floor and hid under her desk. Appellant then ran across the lobby and shot her twice in the back, killing her instantly. In the meantime, Herzog had entered Ms. Hauser's office and shot her through the head. She survived but is permanently disabled.

Appellant and Herzog then proceeded behind the teller's counter to collect the deadly object of their greed. Appellant discovered, however, that Ms. Confer, one of the tellers he had shot, was still alive. In accordance with his master plan, he shot her again in the back, the bullet penetrating her heart and lungs and causing her death. The robbers had collected approximately $2,280.00 when an automobile approached the bank's drive-in window, whereupon they fled in appellant's vehicle.

Appellant and Herzog were apprehended by the State Police approximately two hours and thirty minutes later. Appellant subsequently gave full and complete confessions to an agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and to a State Police Trooper.

517 Pa. 529, 534-536, 539 A.2d 780, 782-783.

Appel appeared before the trial court on June 12, 1986, and said that he wanted to represent himself. He also expressed concern that professional legal representation would hamper the prosecution's case against him. The trial court conducted a thorough colloquy concerning Appel's waiver of his right to counsel, and Appel indicated throughout the colloquy that he understood his rights and wanted to waive his right to counsel. Before accepting Appel's waiver, the trial court ordered a competency evaluation.

Janet Schwartz, M.D., performed the first psychiatric evaluation of Appel in 1986. Dr Schwartz is board certified in both psychiatry and neurology, and was familiar with competency evaluations because she had performed them prior to her evaluation of Appel. Before examining Appel, Dr. Schwartz met with John Weaver, a social worker for Northampton County's Mental Health and Mental Retardation Unit, who had interviewed Appel and obtained a detailed social history. She also spoke with the stand-by counsel appointed by the trial court to represent Appel, and she reviewed various documents including police reports and Appel's arrest record provided to her by the District Attorney's Office.

Dr. Schwartz familiarized herself with the facts of the crime from a police report/arrest record, and then personally conducted a mental status examination of Appel and found no evidence of any formal thought disorder or flight of ideas. She found no evidence of delusions, nor could she elicit delusions through the use of psychological tests. Lastly, Dr. Schwartz found no evidence of any psychosis nor any evidence of mental disorders that would affect Appel's ability to function in court. When Dr. Schwartz asked Appel about the facts of the robbery and murders, he said that he conceived the idea about a month earlier, and that it was the fastest way to get a large sum of money. In her report to the trial court, dated June 17, 1986, which was made part of the record of the trial court, Dr. Schwartz stated the following:

Diagnosis: No mental illness.

Impressions: Mr. Appel appears to have made a rational and well-thought-out decision that he would like to receive the death penalty and would like this to occur as soon as possible. On the basis of my examination, I feel that he is competent to make this decision and to refuse counsel.

On June 20, 1986, Appel reiterated in court that he wanted to proceed without counsel. After reviewing Dr. Schwartz' competency evaluation, the trial court accepted Appel's waiver of his right to counsel. The trial court appointed two members of the Northampton County public defender's office to serve as stand-by counsel, and the court made it clear that if Appel changed his mind, the court would appoint counsel to represent him. Appel said that he was a graduate of Bloomsburg State College with a B.A. in psychology, having received his degree on May 10, 1980, and that he clearly understood everything that the judge was stating to him.

At the request of defense counsel, the trial court ordered a second psychiatric evaluation. On August 19, 1986, psychiatrist Paul Kenneth Gross, M.D., met with Appel for two hours to perform his evaluation and consulted with psychologist Dolores Kristofits, who had done psychological testing. ² Dr. Gross identified a "narcissistic personality disorder" present in Appel, which is associated with such factors as a grandiose sense of self importance or uniqueness, exaggeration of achievements and talents, preoccupation with fantasies, and feelings of rage. In his report dated August 27, 1986, Dr. Gross stated that he found "no evidence of any psychosis on the part of Mr. Appel." Dr. Gross concluded that Appel was competent, stating "he knows the nature and quality of his behavior and can appreciate the consequences of his own behavior." Notes of testimony, May 18, 1995, p. 69.

Appel subsequently waived his preliminary hearing, and, on July 20, 1986, he announced that he wanted to plead guilty to all charges against him, including three counts of first degree murder. The trial court did not allow Appel to plead guilty to any counts of first degree murder, ³ but instead accepted his pleas of guilty to three counts of murder generally, and to the following other charges: two counts of attempted murder in the first degree, two counts of aggravated assault, one count of robbery, eight counts of criminal conspiracy, burglary, criminal mischief, and terroristic threats.

A degree of guilt hearing commenced on August 7, 1986 to determine the degrees of the three counts of murder to which Appel pled guilty. At that hearing, the Commonwealth presented extensive testimony and submitted numerous exhibits during a three-day period. After the hearing on August 9, 1986, the trial court found Appel guilty of three counts of first degree murder.

The trial court again informed Appel of his right to counsel during the penalty phase and Appel again waived his right to counsel. During the penalty phase, Appel made the following statement to the trial court:

Okay, Your Honor. I would like to state for the record, that during the entire proceedings and/or hearings in this matter, I have been very much aware of what is going on. That is to say, I am rational, sane, competent and alert. I have had plenty of opportunities to discuss and consult with stand-by counsel, Mr. Crowe and Ms. Kraft. And, I have consulted with them on various occasions.

I feel that by cooperating with the prosecution and by pleading guilty to all charges, that I have done the honorable thing. And, I hope that I have set a precedent here today for all future defendants in so doing.

The only mitigating factors that I wish to enter into the record, would be:

One, that I have had no prior felony convictions against me; and,

Two, that I was gainfully employed at the time of my arrest.

I would...