Com. v. Blount

• Decision Date: 17 March 1976
• Citation: 466 Pa. 370,353 A.2d 400
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Hubert BLOUNT, Appellant (two cases).
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 400

353 A.2d 400

466 Pa. 370

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Hubert BLOUNT, Appellant (two cases).

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted April 9, 1975.

Decided March 17, 1976.

[466 Pa. 371] Irving W. Singer, Philadelphia, for appellant.

F. Emmett Fitzpatrick, Dist. Atty., Steven H. Goldblatt, Asst. Dist. Atty., Chief, Appeals Div., Philadelphia, for appellee.

Before JONES, C.J., and EAGEN, O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY, NIX and MANDERINO, JJ.

OPINION

MANDERINO, Justice.

Appellant, Hubert Blount, was convicted of murder in the first degree and aggravated robbery. Following denial of post-verdict motions, appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and to a term of ten to twenty years imprisonment for aggravated robbery. This appeal followed.

Appellant contends that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the guilty verdict. We do not agree. We have reviewed the record, accepting as true all of the evidence favorable to the prosecution and the reasonable inferences arising therefrom, and are satisfied that the evidence was sufficient to prove the appellant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Bederka, 459 Pa. 653, 331 A.2d 181 (1975); Commonwealth v. Pitts, 450 Pa. 359, 301 A.2d 646 (1973); Commonwealth v. Williams, 443 Pa. 85, 277 A.2d 781 (1971).

The prosecution's brief in this appeal provides the following summary of the evidence presented at trial. That summary is accurate and is sustained by the record.

'The evidence established that on July 2, 1972, in the early morning, appellant was riding in a white 1960 Oldsmobile in the vicinity of Germantown and Allegheny Avenues in Philadelphia with Larry Williford, Herbert Johnson, Carl Johnson and a girl. Larry Williford testified that appellant said that he was ready to do something because he wasn't feeling good and wanted to get some money. When they drove past the White Tower Restaurant near the corner of Germantown and Allegheny Avenues, appellant said, 'This is a nice place to take off.' Williford said that there were too many police around, but appellant insisted. Appellant told Williford to go around the corner and he would get out of the car. Williford stopped the car on 12th Street and everyone got out. Williford saw appellant take something like a piece of steel or a gun from his pocket. At trial, Williford identified the shotgun recovered by the police as the object appellant took from his pocket. Williford also observed appellant, take a green shell out of a cigarette pack. Williford gave the car keys to his cousin Herbert Johnson, and observed appellant, Herbert Johnson and Carl Johnson walk up Allegheny Avenue through a school yard toward the White Tower Restaurant.

Bruce Pettus testified that in the early morning hours of July 2, 1972, he observed three Negro males rush into the White Tower Restaurant at Germantown and Allegheny Avenues. A few minutes later he heard a noise which sounded like a gunshot, and observed the three males rush out and return in the direction from which they came. Julius Wise testified that between 2:30 a.m. and 3:00 a.m. on July 2, 1972, he observed three Negro males, who were walking north on Germantown Avenue, enter the White Tower and about ten seconds later heard something like a firecracker. Wise then observed the three men run out of the restaurant and proceed south on Germantown Avenue. On 12th Street Wise saw the three men enter a white 1960 Oldsmobile.

At approximately 3:00 a.m. on July (2), 1972, Police Officer Edward McIlvaine found Michael Wulf lying on the floor in a pool of blood and called for a wagon to take the victim to the hospital. Wulf was pronounced dead on July 7, 1972, at Temple Hospital. Dr. Demetrius Contostavlos, Assistant Medical Examiner of Philadelphia, testified that the cause of death was the shotgun wound to the head.

Police found one shotgun wadding at the restaurant in the drainboard behind the counter. They also...