Com. v. Dillon

• Decision Date: 02 August 1989
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Carol DILLON, Appellant. 1776 PHILA. 1988
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 885

562 A.2d 885

386 Pa.Super. 236

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Carol DILLON, Appellant.

1776 PHILA. 1988

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Jan. 10, 1989.

Filed Aug. 2, 1989.

Manuel Grife, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Maxine Stotland, Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia for Com.

Before WIEAND, MONTEMURO and HOFFMAN, JJ.

WIEAND, Judge:

Carol Dillon was found guilty by a jury of murder of the third degree in the stabbing death of her husband on the evening of June 7, 1986. Post-trial motions were dismissed, and she was sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment for not less than three (3) years nor more than six (6) years. ¹ On direct appeal, she challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the jury's verdict and alleges numerous trial errors. We will consider these issues seriatim.

Appellant's post-trial motions contained only a "boiler-plate" challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence. This was inadequate to preserve for appellate review any specific deficiency in the Commonwealth's proof. See: Commonwealth v. Holmes, 315 Pa.Super. 256, 461 A.2d 1268 (1983).

Moreover and in any event, a review of the record discloses evidentiary support for the jury's finding. On June 7, 1986, at or about 7:05 p.m., police found appellant's husband lying unconscious in his home at 5236 Penway Street, Philadelphia. He had sustained a single stab wound of the left chest and was taken immediately to Parkview Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:44 p.m. The decedent's wife, Carol Dillon, initially denied knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the stabbing death of her husband. While she was at the hospital, however, police found a brown-handled butcher knife with blood on it, as well as a blood-stained towel and washcloth in the residence. Police suspicion thereafter focused on the decedent's wife, and she was subsequently transported from the hospital to police headquarters for questioning. After continuing to deny any knowledge of the incident resulting in the stabbing of her husband, police confronted Mrs. Dillon with a neighbor's statement that Mrs. Dillon and her husband had been observed quarreling in their car shortly before he had been stabbed. Mrs. Dillon thereafter gave a statement in which she admitted that she had stabbed her husband. This evidence was sufficient to sustain a finding that appellant was guilty of murder of the third degree.

Appellant's defense was that she had acted in self-defense when attacked by an allegedly intoxicated husband. The testimony, however, was contradictory. The Deputy Medical Examiner for the City of Philadelphia testified that there were no traces of alcohol in the decedent's blood. There was testimony that the decedent and appellant had been arguing, immediately prior to the killing and also on the preceding night. Whether the argument was about appellant's seeing her former husband or about the long hours which the decedent spent at his job is not certain. Appellant testified at trial that the argument had become violent on the preceding night and that the decedent had pushed her, causing her to fall and strike her head. She also testified generally that the decedent had beaten her during the course of the marriage. This general accusation, however, was neither corroborated by other evidence nor particularized by specific instances; and other witnesses testified that the decedent had never struck his wife or evidenced a tendency toward violence. His former wife testified that the decedent had never struck her and that even after he had been drinking he was not violent but became either sleepy or "extra happy." It is readily apparent, therefore, that the credibility of appellant's defense was for the jury to weigh and consider in light of the Commonwealth's evidence that appellant had stabbed her husband in the chest with a butcher knife.

Appellant argues that the statement made at the hospital, to the effect that she did not know how her husband had been injured, and the confession made at the police station should have been suppressed because they had not been preceded by Miranda ² warnings. The suppression court found, however, that at the hospital appellant had been neither a suspect nor in custody. She had called police to the home, had denied knowledge of how her husband had been stabbed, explained that she had been smeared with blood by handling him, and asked police to take her to the hospital to which her husband had been removed. There, in response to questions, she continued to assert ignorance regarding the circumstances of her husband's wound.

It was when appellant was at the hospital that police located the blood covered knife and learned that appellant and her husband had been arguing in their car before entering their home prior to the stabbing. When the decedent expired at 8:44 p.m., police at the hospital were asked to bring appellant to the police station for questioning. There she was advised of her rights under Miranda and later admitted that she was the person who had stabbed her husband.

A reviewing court must determine whether the evidence supports the factual findings of the suppression court. In making this determination, we consider only the evidence of the prosecution and so much of the evidence for the defense as, fairly read in the context of the record as a whole, remains uncontradicted. Commonwealth v. Lark, 505 Pa. 126, 129, 477 A.2d 857, 859 (1984). See also: Commonwealth v. Kichline, 468 Pa. 265, 280-281, 361 A.2d 282, 290 (1976); Commonwealth v. Stark, 363 Pa.Super. 356, 365, 526 A.2d 383, 388 (1987); Commonwealth v. Dinicola, 348 Pa.Super. 405, 409, 502 A.2d 606, 608 (1985). The record of the suppression hearing in this case discloses competent evidence which supports the findings of the suppression court. Because appellant was not in custody at the hospital, Miranda warnings were unnecessary, and the absence thereof did not require suppression of appellant's voluntary statements. See: Commonwealth v. Fento, 363 Pa.Super. 488, 526 A.2d 784 (1987). See also: Commonwealth v. Zimmerman, 351 Pa.Super. 5, 504 A.2d 1329 (1986); Commonwealth v. Wu, 343 Pa.Super. 108, 494 A.2d 7 (1985); Commonwealth v. Orlowski, 332 Pa.Super. 600, 481 A.2d 952 (1984).

At trial, appellant offered testimony by her son, Robert Weinert, Jr., that when he and his friends would visit the home of appellant and the decedent, the decedent would "drink and smoke marijuana and inhale it and he would get drunk and mean and vicious." Appellant also offered as an exhibit a picture of the victim smoking marijuana. The trial court found this evidence irrelevant and sustained objections made by the Commonwealth thereto. Appellant contends that this was error. We disagree.

Evidence, to be admissible, must be relevant. Commonwealth v. Hill, 340 Pa.Super. 155, 162, 489 A.2d 889, 892 (1985); Commonwealth v. Potts, 314 Pa.Super. 256, 275, 460 A.2d 1127, 1137 (1983). "Relevant evidence 'tends to increase or decrease the probability of a material fact' at issue." Commonwealth v. Hill, supra, quoting Commonwealth v. Potts, supra 314 Pa.Super. at 276, 460 A.2d at 1137. Concerning the issue of relevancy, it has been said that

"[t]he law furnishes no test of relevancy, but tacitly refers it to logic and general experience. Evidence is admissible which tends to make the fact at issue more or less probable or intelligible or to show the origin and history of the transaction between the parties and explain its character." Gregg v. Fisher, 377 Pa. 445, 454, 105 A.2d 105, 110 (1954). Therefore, issues of relevancy are left in large measure to the sound discretion of the trial court, whose decisions will not be reversed in the absence of a clear abuse of discretion. See: Commonwealth v. Saksek, 361 Pa.Super. 173, 522 A.2d 70 (1987); Commonwealth v. Underwood, 347 Pa.Super. 256, 500 A.2d 820 (1985); Commonwealth v. Jackson, 336 Pa.Super. 609, 486 A.2d 431 (1984); Commonwealth v. Lumpkins, 324 Pa.Super. 8, 471 A.2d 96 (1984).

Commonwealth v. Sullivan, 372 Pa.Super. 88, 96, 538 A.2d 1363, 1368 (1988).

In the instant case, the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it excluded evidence that the decedent during his lifetime had drunk alcohol and smoked marijuana with his stepson's friends. This would not have added to the jury's ability to understand the facts surrounding the victim's death and would have injected a collateral issue which could have served only to confuse the jury.

Appellant argues on appeal that she wanted to show by this evidence that the victim had become hostile and aggressive toward her when he drank and used drugs. This, however, was not a part of the offer made at trial. The offer made at trial focused on unspecified dates and concerned events which did not involve appellant. Thus, the events included in the offer of proof were not probative of the relationship between the decedent and his wife.

At trial, appellant offered to produce Dr. Richard Lonsdorff, a psychiatrist, to give "a professional opinion as to what [appellant's] mental state was at the time the killing took place and what the mental state is of a woman who has been battered ..., her reaction to such battering, and her reaction after the killing as to what she may or may not tell other people as to what occurred." The trial court disallowed the offer of proof, holding that the battered woman syndrome had not been recognized in this Commonwealth as a defense in homicide cases. See: Commonwealth v. Tyson, 363 Pa.Super. 380, 526 A.2d 395 (1987); Commonwealth v. Stonehouse, 358 Pa.Super. 270, 517 A.2d 540 (1986), rev'd, --- Pa. ----, 555 A.2d 772 (1989).

Recently, a plurality of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that trial counsel would be deemed ineffective in a homicide case if he or she failed to introduce expert testimony regarding the battered woman syndrome, holding that "[b]ecause the battered woman syndrome is not within the ordinary...