Com. v. Ford

• Decision Date: 22 November 1994
• Citation: 539 Pa. 85,650 A.2d 433
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Kenneth FORD, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 433

650 A.2d 433

539 Pa. 85

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Kenneth FORD, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Jan. 24, 1994.

Decided Nov. 22, 1994.

[539 Pa. 93] James A. Lammendola, Philadelphia, for K. Ford.

Catherine Marshall, Hugh J. Burns, Jr., Philadelphia, for Com.

Robert A. Graci, Harrisburg, for Atty. Gen.

Before NIX, C.J., and FLAHERTY, ZAPPALA, PAPADAKOS, CAPPY, CASTILLE and MONTEMURO, JJ.

OPINION OF THE COURT

FLAHERTY, Justice.

Following a jury trial in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, appellant, Kenneth Ford, was found guilty of two counts of murder of the first degree, two counts of burglary, and one count each of robbery and possession of an instrument of crime. A sentencing hearing took place after which the jury recommended that appellant be sentenced to death, finding, as two aggravating circumstances, that the murders occurred during the commission of another felony and were committed by means of torture and, further, finding no mitigating circumstances.

Appellant was sentenced, on March 9, 1992, to death by lethal injection on each of the two homicide convictions and also to two concurrent sentences of not less than 104 months nor more than 240 months on the two burglary convictions, a consecutive sentence of not less than ten years nor more than twenty years on the robbery conviction, and a consecutive sentence of not less than one year nor more than five years on the conviction for possession of an instrument of crime conviction. This appeal followed.

Appellant argues that the evidence was insufficient to support a verdict of one count of robbery and two counts of burglary. This court is required in capital cases to review the sufficiency of the evidence, particularly with respect to the first degree murder conviction. Commonwealth v. Zettlemoyer, 500 Pa. 16, 26 n. 3, 454 A.2d 937, 942 n. 3 (1982), cert. denied,461 U.S. 970, 103 S.Ct. 2444, 77 L.Ed.2d 1327 (1983) rehearing denied, 463 U.S. 1236, 104 S.Ct. 31, 77 L.Ed.2d 1452 (1983). The applicable standard of review is whether, viewing all the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as verdict winner, a jury could find every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Bryant, 524 Pa. 564, 567, 574 A.2d 590, 592 (1990). Therefore, the evidence surrounding the convictions of murder of the first degree, as well as robbery and burglary, will be reviewed.

To prove murder of the first degree, the Commonwealth must demonstrate that the defendant killed with a specific intent to kill. 18 Pa.C.S. § 2502(d). The Commonwealth must show: 1) that a human being has unlawfully been killed; 2) that the defendant did the killing; and 3) that the killing was done in an intentional, deliberate and premeditated manner. Commonwealth v. Mitchell, 528 Pa. 546, 599 A.2d 624 (1991). If deadly force is knowingly applied by the defendant to another, the specific intent to kill is as evident as if the defendant stated the intent to kill at the time the force was applied. Commonwealth v. Meredith, 490 Pa. 303, 416 A.2d 481 (1980).

Robbery and burglary involve distinct elements. To prove robbery, the Commonwealth must prove that, in the course of committing a theft, the defendant either inflicted serious bodily injury on another or physically removed property of another by force. 18 Pa.C.S. § 3701; Commonwealth v. Breakiron, 524 Pa. 282, 297, 571 A.2d 1035, 1042, cert. denied, 498 U.S. 881, 111 S.Ct. 224, 112 L.Ed.2d 179 (1990). An act is deemed in the "course of committing a theft" if it occurs in an attempt to commit theft or in flight after the commission of the theft. 18 Pa.C.S. § 3701. To prove burglary, the Commonwealth must prove that the defendant entered a building or a separately secured or occupied portion thereof with intent to commit a crime therein, unless, among other things, the actor is privileged to enter. 18 Pa.C.S. § 3502(a). Specific intent to commit a crime may be established through defendant's words or acts, or circumstantial evidence, together with all reasonable inferences therefrom. Commonwealth v. Iacobino, 319 Pa. 65, 178 A. 823 (1935).

The record reflects that the evidence more than sufficiently supported verdicts of murder, burglary and robbery. On July 31, 1989, Celeste Sharpe, age 61, and Renee Mitchell, age 26, were found stabbed to death in the rear room of a candy store owned by Celeste Sharpe. Ms. Sharpe died from nine stab wounds. When she was found, her bra had been ripped off and her skirt was pulled up above her waist. It had been her habit to keep a wad of money rolled up in a ball and hidden in her bra. The money was gone. Renee Mitchell sustained twenty-five stab wounds. She was also found naked from the waist down, having had her panties ripped from her body. In the store, the cash register drawer was open and loose change was strewn on the floor.

At the scene of the crime, appellant approached the police, identified himself as Kenneth Jones and stated that he knew who killed the two victims. He first told an officer that he was in Ms. Sharpe's store and saw the murders. Shortly thereafter, he recanted and told the officer that he watched the murder from across the street. Appellant requested that a detective accompany him down an isolated street where the two talked. At this time, appellant appeared to become agitated about the deaths of the two victims and the detective attempted to calm him down by patting him near the waist. When the detective put his hand on the appellant, he felt a hard object. He reached under appellant's clothing and removed a ten-inch Bowie knife from appellant's waistband. Appellant pulled up his sweater to wipe his forehead and revealed a blood stain on his t-shirt. The detective then asked appellant to go to the Police Administration Building ("Building") to explain to the police what he saw and appellant acquiesced saying that he would do anything to help catch the people who killed the two women. He was treated as a witness, not as a suspect, and was neither handcuffed during his trip to the Building with the police nor ushered through the prisoner entrance of the Building.

At the Building, appellant was handcuffed to a chair and was interviewed by another detective. This detective saw blood on the fly area of appellant's pants and on his sweater, and asked appellant to remove his clothing, giving him a hospital gown. Appellant took off two bloodstained shirts, revealing a cut on his chest, and his pants and swim trunks, both of which had blood and red stains on them. The detective held the bloodstained clothes and applied for a warrant for their seizure. Appellant was given his Miranda warnings, and claimed to have been elsewhere during the murders. He also claimed to have won a large amount of money playing "craps," that he received the chest abrasion from having been stabbed during a fight with two men and that an unidentified man had given him the Bowie knife.

A witness, Ms. Paulette Riddick, testified that she went to a bar with appellant on the evening of the murders. She said that he had blood on his pants and sweater and on the cuticles of his fingernails and that he spent a large amount of money. Two other witnesses saw him at the bar with a balled-up wad of money.

Appellant's fingerprints, his knife and a victim's blood type also linked him to the scene of the killings. Appellant's fingerprints were on a pack of cigarettes in a bag in the back room of the store where the bodies of the victims were found. Later, when the police determined that appellant's last name was "Ford" and not "Jones," ¹ Kenneth's Ford's fingerprints, which were on file at the Building, were checked and matched those of appellant. Traces of human blood were found on appellant's knife. While both appellant and Ms. Sharpe had blood type O, Ms. Mitchell had blood type AB. Type AB blood was found soaked into much of appellant's clothing.

The evidence is more than sufficient to support the convictions of murder of the first degree, burglary and robbery. The record particularly reflects that: appellant was at the scene of the murders and knew the identity of the victims without viewing them; the victims were stabbed many times; appellant possessed a ten-inch Bowie knife on which traces of human blood were found; appellant had blood all over his outer and inner garments, including type AB blood of one of the victims; a victim, Ms. Sharpe, was known to carry a balled-up wad of money in her bra and appellant possessed a balled-up wad of money shortly after the murders; and, appellant had no privilege to enter the back room of the candy store where both of the victims were found. Appellant's claim fails.

Appellant argues that since robbery can not be committed on a dead person, the evidence did not support a finding that the victim was alive when she was robbed. Based on the evidence described above, the factfinder could reasonably conclude that appellant killed Ms. Sharpe while robbing her, that she resisted, and that the force used to commit the robbery was the force used to commit the murder. This claim is meritless.

Appellant also argues that the evidence was insufficient to support his burglary convictions because appellant was privileged to enter the back room of the store, because the back room was not shown to be a separately secured portion thereof, and because the Commonwealth did not prove that Ms. Mitchell had a proprietary interest in the premises. Appellant worked under the direction of Ms. Sharpe in the store, including the day of the murders, and claimed to be privileged to enter the back room, her living quarters. This claim was directly contradicted by testimony of a long-time employee who said appellant was never allowed in the back room unless with an escort and only for a brief time. The condition of Ms. Mitchell's body and her state of undress provide sufficient evidence to support the...