Com. v. Hassine
Decision Date | 18 April 1985 |
Citation | 340 Pa.Super. 318,490 A.2d 438 |
Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Victor HASSINE, Appellant. |
Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Thomas E. Mellon, Philadelphia, for appellant.
Stephen B. Harris, Asst. Dist. Atty., Warrington, for Commonwealth, appellee.
Before SPAETH, President Judge, and MONTEMURO and POPOVICH, JJ.
Following a jury trial, appellant, Victor Hassine and his co-defendant, George Gregory Orlowski, were found guilty of first degree murder, 1 several attempted murders, 2 and multiple counts of criminal conspiracy 3 and criminal solicitation. 4 A life sentence was returned by the jury on the first degree murder conviction. After post-verdict motions for a new trial and arrest of judgment were denied, appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment and various consecutive terms of imprisonment. Appellant appeals from this judgment of sentence. We affirm.
Appellant alleges a plethora of alleged points of error. In an effort to provide some order to our review of this particularly lengthy appeal, we shall address each assignment of error seriatim. The issues presented by appellant are as follows:
(1) the lower court erred in refusing to grant appellant's motion to sever;
(2) the lower court erred in denying appellant's trial counsel's motion to withdraw;
(3) the lower court erred as a matter of law and abused its discretion in allowing the prosecution to question and comment upon appellant's pre-arrest and post-arrest silence, which conduct amounted to prosecutorial misconduct;
(4) the lower court erred in failing to direct the court reporter to record closing arguments, which arguments were highly prejudicial and amounted to prosecutorial misconduct;
(5) the lower court erred in its charge to the jury;
(6) evidence presented at trial, which had been intercepted by a consensual wiretap, was illegally obtained, as the statute permitting such a wiretap is unconstitutional;
(7) the evidence was insufficient to sustain the first degree murder conviction;
(8) the lower court erred in refusing to dismiss various counts of conspiracy;
(9) the lower court erred in refusing appellant's application for a Bill of Particulars;
(10) the lower court erred in denying appellant's motion to compel a psychiatric examination of a key prosecution witness;
(11) there was prosecutorial misconduct in that the Commonwealth failed to disclose the full scope of a plea bargain agreement between the Commonwealth and a key prosecution witness;
(12) the lower court erred in refusing to permit appellant's new counsel to present newly discovered, exculpatory evidence;
(13) trial counsel was ineffective;
(14) the trial court erred in refusing appellant's request for an in camera inspection of the Commonwealth's file; and
(15) the trial court erred in not ordering merged, for sentencing purposes, consecutive sentences and fines relating to inchoate crimes.
While the list of alleged errors is long, we find it short on merit. Indeed, it is worth noting, as an admonishment to the bar, that this court has never decided appeals based upon the number of pages in a party's brief, but rather upon the merits of each claim. As to the arguments presented, we look to the quality, not the quantity.
The pertinent facts of this case were fully set forth in our opinion in Commonwealth v. Orlowski, 332 Pa.Super., 600, 481 A.2d 952 (1984), wherein we affirmed the conviction of appellant's co-defendant, Gregory Orlowski. These facts are as follows:
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