Com. v. Chambers

• Citation: 528 Pa. 558,599 A.2d 630
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Karl S. CHAMBERS, Appellant.
• Decision Date: 07 January 1992
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Page 630

599 A.2d 630

528 Pa. 558

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Karl S. CHAMBERS, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued May 7, 1990.

Decided Nov. 4, 1991.

Reargument Denied Jan. 7, 1992.

[528 Pa. 564] Thomas L. Kearney, III, Asst. Defender, for appellant.

H. Stanley Rebert, Dist. Atty., for appellee.

Before NIX, C.J., and LARSEN, FLAHERTY, McDERMOTT, ZAPPALA, PAPADAKOS and CAPPY, JJ.

OPINION OF THE COURT

PAPADAKOS, Justice.

Karl S. Chambers, Appellant, was convicted of murder of the first degree and robbery, and was sentenced to death. Pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(h)(1), ¹ this direct appeal followed. Immediately following the jury's return of its guilty verdicts, the Honorable Joseph E. Erb, of the Court of Common Pleas of York County, commenced a sentencing hearing in which the same jury found one aggravating circumstance to be present, i.e., that the killing occurred during the commission of a robbery (42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(d)(6)). The jury also determined that one mitigating circumstance was present, i.e., that the Appellant had no significant history of prior criminal offenses. (42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(e)(1)) (R., pp. 1216-17). The jury found the aggravating circumstance to outweigh the mitigating circumstance and determined that the sentence of death should be imposed. Post-trial motions were considered and denied and the sentences were imposed. ²

In this direct appeal, Appellant, through his counsel, raises sixteen issues of error allegedly committed by the trial court and, through his pro se supplemental brief, presents issues alleging the ineffective assistance of his counsel at both the trial and in this appeal. ³

First, the Appellant asserts that insufficient evidence exists to support his conviction of murder of the first degree. ⁴ The Appellant argues that the evidence, as presented by the Commonwealth, was not based on eyewitness testimony, and that, therefore, the circumstantial evidence does not support a guilty verdict.

Our test for determining the sufficiency of the evidence is, by viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, to determine whether the jury reasonably could have concluded that all elements of the crime were established beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Syre, 507 Pa. 299, 489 A.2d 1340 (1985), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 935, 107 S.Ct. 1577, 94 L.Ed.2d 768 (1987).

Our review of the record reveals that the Commonwealth established the following facts. On Saturday, February 1, 1986, at or near 3:30 p.m., the victim, Anna Mae Morris, entered the C & M Variety store (hereinafter the "Fish Store") to purchase groceries with proceeds from her Social Security check which she had cashed the preceding day. The clerk filled her order and tallied her purchases. The victim then reached under her shirt for her wallet, tendered the amount due, put the change in her wallet, replaced her wallet under her shirt and left the store. At the same time, Appellant and a group of his friends were playing pinball and eating fish sandwiches in plain view of the victim. They had recently come from the home of Adam McKinney, a member of this group, where they had smoked some marijuana and drank some alcoholic beverages. These friends testified that Appellant neglected to place money into the common No one saw the Appellant, or the victim, until approximately 4:15 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. when Edgar Coder and Travis Wolfe stated that they saw the Appellant and the victim on the Silver Bridge (so named because of its color). They were the last people to see the victim alive.

fund they collected for food purchases that day at the fish store and that moments after the victim departed, Appellant told his friends that he had something to do, adding he would meet them later in the evening at Adam McKinney's house. Appellant quickly left the fish store.

These witnesses testified that, although they could not hear what the Appellant and the victim were saying to each other, they appeared to be arguing. In addition, Edgar Coder testified that the Appellant had what appeared to be a large stick in one of his hands. Sometime between 4:45 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., another witness, Kevin Hartmen, while walking his dog there, noticed a body under the Maryland-Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge (hereinafter the "Black Bridge" so named because of its painted color). (The Black Bridge is in close proximity to the Silver Bridge and both of these structures span the Codorus Creek.) Kevin Hartmen immediately contacted his friend, Donald Snell, who also saw the body. Mr. Snell approached his father about what he had seen. His father then told a retired policeman. In turn, the retired policeman contacted the York Police Department and reported the body beneath the Black Bridge.

The police arrived at the scene at 8:35 p.m. and began their investigation. The police found the victim's numerous articles of clothing, her torn open, empty wallet, along with her upper and lower dentures strewn around her lifeless, nude body. The autopsy revealed the victim was beaten to death by a blunt instrument and the cause of death was later determined to be a subdural hemorrhage or brain hemorrhage (R., p. 590).

While the police were investigating the murder scene, Appellant, armed with an axe handle, went to a local bar called the Shady Dell. Before he was permitted to enter the bar, the manager, John Ettline, ordered Appellant to leave this club outside because Mr. Ettline did not want patrons carrying weapons into his establishment. Appellant complied and meandered through the Shady Dell for a time and left without re-claiming his stick. From there he proceeded to Adam McKinney's home. When he arrived at Adam's home, Appellant now possessed alcohol, marijuana, and money. Appellant did not tell his friends where he had been, what he had done, or where he obtained the money to make his purchases, whereas a few hours before he did not have funds to contribute to their kitty.

Over the next few months the police engaged in an exhaustive investigation. The questioning of witnesses revealed that the Appellant often carried an axe handle, that he told his friends the police considered him a prime suspect, and that the police stopped Appellant as he was attempting to leave town. Debra Phillips, a woman who knew the Appellant, told the police she gave the axe handle to him because of a foot injury he received in an altercation with Debra's nephew some time before the murder. At that time, she suspected he could use the handle as a cane. Intense questioning of the Appellant's acquaintances confirmed that on the day of the murder the Appellant was seen carrying this axe handle. Their testimony also revealed that when he entered the fish store on the day of the murder, he had the axe handle with him but the owners requested he leave it outside. When Appellant's friends left the fish store after the Appellant had departed, they noticed that the stick was gone. And finally, they noted that the Appellant did not have "his stick" when he rejoined them later in the evening at Adam's house.

On December 9, 1986, while Appellant was in the York County Prison on charges unrelated to this incident, he confided in two fellow prisoners, Jeffrey Hutchenson and Richard Taylor, and told them that he had killed the victim. Appellant said, "that when he asked the victim for her money and she refused, he hit her and took the money." The next day Jeffrey Hutchenson Although there were no eyewitnesses to the robbery or the murder, we believe the Commonwealth produced sufficient evidence to establish that Appellant robbed and murdered Anna Morris. True, all of the evidence was circumstantial; however, circumstantial evidence is sufficient to sustain a conviction "so long as the combination of the evidence links the accused to the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." Commonwealth v. Steele, 522 Pa. 61, 559 A.2d 904, 909 (1989); Commonwealth v. Hardcastle, 519 Pa. 236, 246, 546 A.2d 1101, 1105 (1988). These witnesses were able not only to place the Appellant at or near the scene of the crime, they were also able to provide proof of a motive. Circumstantial evidence can be as reliable and persuasive as eyewitness testimony and may be of sufficient quantity and quality to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Tedford, 523 Pa. 305, 567 A.2d 610, 618 (1989). Therefore, we conclude that sufficient evidence exists in the record to support the conviction of murder of the first degree and robbery and we dismiss the Appellant's contrary contention. Commonwealth v. Marshall, 523 Pa. 556, 568 A.2d 590, 593 (1989).

contacted his attorney, who notified the police. An arrest warrant was then issued on December 12, 1986, for the Appellant.

PRE-TRIAL ERRORS

Next, Appellant contends that the trial court committed an abuse of discretion when it granted the Commonwealth's motion to challenge for cause Juror # 41, Kathy buckington. The Appellant claims the court improperly dismissed this venire person after she advised the court that she could follow instructions regarding the imposition of the death penalty.

The determination to disqualify a prospective juror is made by the trial judge based on both the juror's answers as well as his or her demeanor, and this ruling will not be reversed absent palpable abuse of discretion. Commonwealth v. Blystone, 519 Pa. 450, 549 A.2d 81 (1988). Our reading of the record reveals that the following occurred during the voir dire proceedings.

The court released Mrs. Buckington because she would not follow the law in Pennsylvania regarding the standard of proof in a criminal prosecution. During her voir dire examination, Mrs. Buckington testified that she would hold the Commonwealth to a standard other than "beyond a reasonable doubt." In response to a question from the judge regarding her willingness to vote for a conviction, Mrs. Buckington responded, "I'd have to be definitely,...