Com. v. DiSabatino

• Decision Date: 18 September 1990
• Citation: 581 A.2d 645,399 Pa.Super. 1
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. William DiSABATINO, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 645

581 A.2d 645

399 Pa.Super. 1

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. William DiSABATINO, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Sept. 18, 1990.

Filed Oct. 22, 1990.

Rolfe C. Marsh, Media, for appellant.

Vram Nedurian, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., Newtown Square, for Com., appellee.

Before CAVANAUGH, WIEAND and HUDOCK, JJ.

WIEAND, Judge:

William DiSabatino was tried by jury and was found guilty of possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia. Post-trial motions were denied, and DiSabatino was sentenced to serve concurrent terms of imprisonment of not less than three (3) years nor more than ten (10) years for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and of not less than six (6) months nor more than one (1) year for possession of drug paraphernalia. His conviction for possession of a controlled substance was held to merge for purposes of sentencing. On direct appeal, DiSabatino argues that (1) his statements to police admitting that the drugs found in his home were intended for sale should not have been received because the Commonwealth failed to establish the corpus delicti of the crime of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver; and (2) in the absence of these statements, which should not have been admitted at trial, the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction for possession with intent to deliver. Finding no merit in these contentions, we affirm the judgment of sentence.

The facts upon which appellant was convicted have been stated succinctly in the trial court's post-trial opinion as follows:

On January 8, 1989 a search of the Defendant's residence was conducted by a combined Drug Task Force consisting of Upper Chichester Police and a Detective from the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division pursuant to the issuance of a search warrant. Among items seized were a large plastic bag containing twenty (20) smaller bags of PCP, the large bag found in a freezer compartment of the refrigerator in the kitchen of the home. Two (2) packs of cigarette papers were found in the living room and one (1) box of plastic freezer bags were located on the kitchen table.

When the police arrived at the premises, the Defendant was not at home and only his wife was present. The Defendant arrived shortly thereafter and was placed under arrest. The Defendant told the police officers that the contraband was his and that his wife knew nothing of the presence of the drugs in the premises. The Defendant also made several other statements admitting possession of the PCP and [his] intention to deliver the substance to other persons.

Appellant's request for a limited review of the evidence to determine its sufficiency to sustain the jury's verdict is inappropriate. "It is well settled ... that in determining the sufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict, we are required to consider all evidence actually received, whether the trial court's rulings on evidence were correct or incorrect." Commonwealth v. Pankraz, 382 Pa.Super. 116, 119-120, 554 A.2d 974, 976 (1989). See also: Commonwealth v. Manhart, 349 Pa.Super. 552, 556, 503 A.2d 986, 988 (1986); Commonwealth v. Nelson, 320 Pa.Super. 488, 494, 467 A.2d 638, 641 (1983); Commonwealth v. Minnis, 312 Pa.Super. 53, 55, 458 A.2d 231, 232 (1983). The evidence received by the trial court in this case was that police had discovered twenty (20) plastic bags containing PCP, whose ownership appellant admitted to be for purposes of resale. This evidence was sufficient to sustain the conviction for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver.

Moreover and in any event, appellant's inculpatory statement was properly received in evidence. It is correct, as appellant contends, that "a criminal conviction may not be based on the extra-judicial confession or admission of the defendant unless it is corroborated by independent evidence establishing the corpus delicti." Commonwealth v. Ware, 459 Pa. 334, 365, 329 A.2d 258, 274 (1974). See also: Commonwealth v. Smallwood, 497 Pa. 476, 484, 442 A.2d 222, 225 (1982); Commonwealth v. May, 451 Pa. 31, 32, 301 A.2d 368, 369 (1973). Thus, before a defendant's confession or admission may be introduced into evidence, the Commonwealth must offer independent evidence establishing that a crime has in fact been committed. Commonwealth v. Moore, 466 Pa. 510, 513, 353 A.2d 808, 809 (1976). See also: Commonwealth v. Byrd, 490 Pa. 544, 556, 417 A.2d 173, 179 (1980); Commonwealth v. Palmer, 448 Pa. 282, 285-286, 292 A.2d 921, 922 (1972). "The grounds on which the [corpus delicti] rule rests are the hasty and unguarded character which is often attached to confessions and admissions and the consequent danger of a conviction where no crime has in fact been committed...." Commonwealth v. Turza, 340 Pa. 128, 134, 16 A.2d 401, 404 (1940). See also: Commonwealth v. Moore, supra 466 Pa. at 513-514, 353 A.2d at 809; Commonwealth v. Ware, supra.

Appellant argues that the Commonwealth proved a corpus delicti only for the crime of possession of a controlled substance and not for possession with intent to deliver. However, where two crimes are closely related and have arisen out of the same transaction, the establishment of the corpus delicti for one of them is sufficient to permit a receipt of the defendant's admission or confession even though it implicates him in the other crime as well. In Commonwealth v. Stokes, 225 Pa.Super. 411, 311 A.2d 714 (1973), the defendant had been charged with the misdemeanor of pointing a firearm at police officers and with attempted murder. At trial, the Commonwealth introduced the defendant's statement that he had pulled the trigger but that the gun had not fired. The defendant argued that this statement should not have been received because the Commonwealth had established the corpus delicti only for the firearms offense and not for attempted murder. The Superior Court rejected this argument, reasoning as follows:

In the present case, when the Commonwealth proved that appellant pointed a rifle at the officers, it established (at least prima facie) that appellant had committed the crime of pointing a firearm. Appellant's statement thereupon became admissible. It is true that the statement did more than corroborate the proof of the crime of pointing a firearm; by adding the fact that appellant had pulled the trigger, it supplied the additional proof needed to establish that appellant had also committed the crime of attempt with intent to kill. This fact, however, is no reason to exclude the statement. The two crimes charged arose from a single transaction, and had in common the element of pointing a firearm at someone....