Com. v. Hassine

Decision Date18 April 1985
Citation340 Pa.Super. 318,490 A.2d 438
PartiesCOMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Victor HASSINE, Appellant.
CourtPennsylvania 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.

MONTEMURO, Judge:

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:

"This tale begins in the remote passages of [Orlowski's] youth and unfolds to a tragic denouement. [Orlowski] was a young boy when he became apprenticed to Albert Kellet, Sr., proprietor of the Kellet Family Market in Fallsington, Bucks County. He was a butcher's boy doing odd jobs and cleaning the market while being taught the intricacies of the trade. He was trained and nurtured by the senior Kellet to such an extent that he was like a member of the family; almost like a brother to Kellet's natural son, Albert, Jr., also known as 'Skip.' Skip also worked at the family market but growing differences between him and his father caused him to seek employment elsewhere, while [Orlowski] remained.

"Since they were reared as brothers, [Orlowski] and Skip had their 'good and bad times.' It would seem that their situation could be characterized as either fighting or between fights. On several occasions, their fights stemmed from drug deals which had soured.

"In 1975, the senior Kellet sold the store. [Orlowski] went with the new owners 'like a piece of equipment,' and he continued to run the meat department. At some point in the late seventies, [Orlowski] rented the store and operated it himself. He also began operating a small side business--dealing in marijuana and methamphetamine. Coincidentally, Skip Kellet engaged in a similar sideline.

"Enter Victor Hassine, the young scion of a wealthy emigre family which had some real estate holdings in the Fallsington area. Moreover, Hassine was the vessel into which three years of legal education had been poured, and so he was entrusted by the family corporation with the management of some of its interests including those in the Fallsington area.

"In 1979, Hassine met [Orlowski] and decided to go into business with him. Together they opened a new store in Morrisville, Bucks County, called Greg's Quality Meat Market, which was financed by the Hassine family, overseen by Victor Hassine, and operated by [Orlowski]. For various reasons, the business did not prosper, and soon [Orlowski] began selling marijuana and methamphetamine out of the store to supplement the store's income. He and several employees of the store engaged in the selling. Hassine also began to advise [Orlowski] how to squeeze more profit out of the drug sales.

"In early June of 1980, Skip Kellet purchased some methamphetamine from [Orlowski] for one hundred and fifty ($150.00) dollars. Upon bringing the drugs back to his apartment, Kellet discovered the drugs were of an inferior quality and he became enraged. In order to gain revenge on [Orlowski], he called him and told him the drugs were good and he wanted more. [Orlowski] came to Kellet's apartment (where coincidentally [Orlowski] had lived for several years prior to Kellet's tenancy) and encountered the enraged Kellet brandishing a cudgel. Kellet threatened him with the club; took the drugs, which [Orlowski] had brought with him, and all of [Orlowski's] money (either sixty-four ($64) or one hundred and four ($104) dollars); and threw him out of the apartment.

"A few days later, a meeting was held at the meat market. Present were [Orlowski], Hassine, various employees of the meat market, and one William Eric Decker, an itinerant drug fiend and convicted felon, who had been doing labor work for Hassine. Hassine told Decker, in [Orlowski's] presence, that he wanted Skip Kellet killed, or 'wasted.' Hassine also said that if Kellet's wife, Lois, was there, she 'was to go also, because any witnesses had to go.' [Orlowski] added that Kellet could be killed at Penn Manor Lakes because he always went fishing there. He also asked one of the employees, Billy Hayes, who lived next door to Kellet, if he could shoot Kellet from Hayes' bedroom window with Hayes' father's gun. Hassine then asked everyone to attempt to procure a gun. [Orlowski] went out and made a phone call, ostensibly to attempt to find a gun, but the party he tried to reach was 'sleeping.'

"Thereafter, Decker accompanied [Orlowski] to the home of one David Evans, a friend of [Orlowski]. Their purpose in going there was to look for a gun. However, Evans' gun, a hunting rifle, was not suited to their purposes so they did not take it. Decker also accompanied Hassine to the apartment of one Ted Camera, a tenant of a Hassine family apartment in Trenton, to ask for a gun; but again they did not obtain one.

"[Orlowski] purchased a .25 caliber automatic handgun from a Tom Easterwood for seventy-five ($75) dollars. Sometime in July, 1980, Hassine gave this weapon to Decker and said, '[h]ere, hit him in the head and leave it there.' The gun was test-fired by Hassine and Decker in the back of the market in the presence of [Orlowski] and was found to have a defective part.

"In late July, 1980, there was a confrontation between Kellet and Hassine in front of one of Hassine's apartments (which was coincidentally across the street from Kellet's apartment). Hassine filed criminal charges of harassment against Kellet. Later a charge of terroristic threats was added when Kellet called the meat market and threatened to burn it down.

"On August 1, 1980, Hassine and Decker drove to Edelman's Gun Shop to obtain a part to repair the gun. They did not get the part, but Hassine purchased a box of shells for the gun, for which he signed the register.

"Returning from Edelman's, they passed Kellet's apartment, and seeing Kellet, Hassine told Decker to shoot him. Decker demurred because it was daylight, a witness was present and because Hassine was there. Hassine promised Decker that he could have one of Hassine's apartments if he killed Kellet.

"On or about August 5, 1980, [Orlowski] and Hassine met with Fred Tuite and Joseph 'Critter' Schwab at [Orlowski's] house. Tuite and Schwab were members of the Breed Motorcycle Gang, and Tuite had just been bailed out of jail by Kerry Conklin, a friend of [Orlowski's] who frequented the market and also worked as a laborer for Hassine. Tuite had been jailed for offenses relating to the possession of a .357 magnum handgun, which he previously had attempted to sell to Hassine. Tuite and Schwab were asked by Hassine how much they wanted to kill Kellet. They answered fifteen hundred ($1,500) dollars. [Orlowski] then asked how much to have Kellet beaten up. They answered two hundred and fifty ($250) dollars. At Hassine's direction, [Orlowski] left the...

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