Com. v. Cameron

Citation247 Pa.Super. 435,372 A.2d 904
PartiesCOMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Herman Marshall CAMERON, Jr., Appellant.
Decision Date19 April 1977
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania

Page 904

372 A.2d 904
247 Pa.Super. 435
COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania
v.
Herman Marshall CAMERON, Jr., Appellant.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
Submitted June 22, 1976.
Decided April 19, 1977.

Page 905

[247 Pa.Super. 436] Edward F. Browne, Jr., Asst. Public Defender, Lancaster, for appellant.

James R. Leonard, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., D. Richard Eckman, Dist. Atty., Lancaster, for appellee.

Before WATKINS, President Judge, and JACOBS, HOFFMAN, CERCONE, PRICE, VAN der VOORT and SPAETH, JJ.

[247 Pa.Super. 437] PRICE, Judge.

Appellant was indicted on three counts of delivery of heroin in violation of The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act 1 and two counts of criminal conspiracy. 2 A jury found appellant guilty on all counts. Post-verdict motions were denied, and appellant was sentenced to pay a fine of $100.00 and to serve a two to five year term of imprisonment on the first delivery count, concurrent two to five year periods for each remaining delivery count, and concurrent two year probationary terms for each conspiracy count.

Appellant first challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to prove the crimes charged. 'When testing the sufficiency of the evidence, we must review the testimony in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, Commonwealth v. Blevins, 453 Pa. 481, 309 A.2d 421 (1973), and must accept as true all of the evidence, direct or circumstantial, and all reasonable inferences arising from the evidence, upon which the trier of facts could properly have based the verdict. Commonwealth v. Fortune, 456 Pa. 365, 318 A.2d 327 (1974).' Commonwealth v. Carter, 230 Pa.Super. 236, 238--9, 326 A.2d 480, 481--2 (1974). After reviewing the record, we find that the evidence was sufficient to establish appellant's guilt on all charges.

On March 6, 1975, Officers Richard Smith and Carlos Aquino of the Philadelphia Police Narcotics Unit were assigned, for thirty days, to the Lancaster City Police Department as undercover narcotics policemen. During this period, the two officers attempted to locate narcotic suppliers by posing as heroin addicts. Appellant became their middleman for the five transactions involved in this case.

While driving around Lancaster on March 7, 1975, Officer Smith and his associate became suspicious that appellant was selling drugs. They first observed appellant on Chester [247 Pa.Super. 438] Street, leaning into a car and conversing with its occupants. The officers drove around the block and approached the appellant. During a short conversation, the officers explained that they had just arrived from Philadelphia and were in need of a supply of heroin. As a result of this conversation, the parties met at approximately 1:00 a.m. on March 8, and appellant led the officers to a house at 238 Howard Street where they purchased two packets of heroin from the occupants, Heriberto Cintron and Jose Rojas. The sale was consummated when Rojas passed the heroin packets to appellant who passed them to Officer Smith. Smith gave the money directly to Rojas.

The second incident occurred the same day, March 8, at 9:05 p.m., when appellant took the officers to the apartment of Felix Negron at 145 Chester Street. Negron was

Page 906

hesitant to sell because he did not know the buyers. During the conversation, Negron stated that appellant 'was going to have all the police coming down here,' because he was 'always bringing (unknown) people around here.' Appellant assured Negron that '(h)e's alright, I know him.' The transaction was completed when Negron's associate Nelson Rojas, who was Jose's brother, and Officer Smith exchanged the money and drugs.

The third transaction took place on March 10. Appellant took Smith to 238 Howard Street where Smith purchased heroin directly from Jose Rojas. Although appellant was present he did not handle the drugs or the money.

On March...

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