Com. v. Lloyd

• Citation: 2005 PA Super 236,878 A.2d 867
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Marcus LLOYD, Appellant.
• Decision Date: 27 June 2005
• Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania

878 A.2d 867

2005 PA Super 236

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Marcus LLOYD, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted September 27, 2004.

Filed June 27, 2005.

Norman O. Scott, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Hugh J. Burns, Jr., Assistant District Attorney, Philadelphia, for Commonwealth, appellee.

Before: BENDER, McCAFFERY, and POPOVICH, JJ.

OPINION BY McCAFFERY, J.:

¶ 1 Appellant, Marcus Lloyd, appeals from a judgment of sentence entered in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas after a jury found him guilty of two counts of murder in the first degree,¹ one count each of robbery² and criminal conspiracy,³ and sentenced him to death. As a result of his first appeal directly to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court challenging the imposition of his death sentences, Appellant was resentenced to consecutive life sentences. Now, Appellant specifically asks us to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to sustain a first degree murder conviction when Appellant had not been physically present at the time of the murder, and whether the trial court erred in failing to make record findings of fact to support its denial of Appellant's motion for a new trial. Finally, Appellant asks us to determine whether two consecutive life sentences constitute a harsher sentence than two concurrent death sentences, which the sentencing court imposed in what Appellant characterizes as error. Upon careful review of the record and having given due consideration to Appellant's arguments, we hold that the trial court acted properly in the challenged instances and the sentencing court did not err. Thus, we affirm.

¶ 2 The facts of this case were set forth by the trial court as follows:

Appellant, Marcus Lloyd, and three confederates, Herbert Blakeney, Gregory Miller, and Kenneth Miller, were arrested and charged with two counts of first degree murder, robbery, conspiracy, and related offenses, pertaining to the robbery and shooting deaths of Charles Love, Esquire, who had been co-defendant, Gregory Miller's attorney, and Mr. Brian Barry, who was an assistant/paralegal to attorney Charles Love. The criminal incident occurred on February 25, 1998.

Co-conspirator, Herbert Blakeney[,] entered into a negotiated guilty plea agreement with the Commonwealth, whereby he pled guilty to two counts of first degree murder, and related charges, and received two concurrent sentences of life imprisonment. Blakeney testified for the Commonwealth at trial, and[ ] admitted to being the actual shooter of the two victims.

The evidence at trial established that one of the murder victims, Charles Love, Esquire, had represented co-defendant, Gregory Miller[,] in various matters, and had obtained monies for Gregory Miller[ ] as a result of civil claims. The entire sums recovered could not be distributed to Gregory Miller[ ] because of outstanding Family Court "support" orders and liens. In claim [sic] against the City of Philadelphia, Mr. Love had recovered a sum of $15,000 for his client, Gregory Miller. A "Statement of Distribution"[ ] indicated that after various deductions, Gregory Miller was to receive the amount of $5,915.10. However, Gregory Miller had also owed child support arrearages, and had agreed that the sums recovered were to be applied to the reduction of the amount of the arrearages.

On February 25, 1998, Appellant and Kenneth Miller visited Herbert Blakeney and told him that Gregory Miller wanted to speak to all of them about a "stick-up". The three of them then proceeded to Gregory Miller's home, where the group discussed Gregory Miller's plan to have them rob and murder Mr. Love[ ] and Mr. Brian Barry. Gregory Miller explained that he wanted the victims robbed and killed because he had not received the expected amount of funds from attorney Love.

Gregory Miller gave Appellant a .38 caliber handgun and some telephone wire, and instructed Appellant to conceal the weapon until the group was inside Mr. Love's law office. Gregory Miller directed that Brian Barry was to be tied up. He also told Blakeney to use the gun to force Mr. Love to write a check for $10,000.00. He told Appellant to take the check to a bank to have it cashed, and he instructed Kenneth Miller to shoot both victims once [Appellant] cashed the check. Gregory Miller told his cohorts to "leave no witnesses".

Appellant, Kenneth Miller, and Herbert Blakeney then went to Mr. Love's office. Gregory Miller did not go with them to the office. Once at the office, Blakeney confronted Mr. Love with the handgun and demanded that he write a check for $10,000.00. Appellant took Mr. Brian Barry into a storage closet, laid him facedown on the floor, and "hog-tied" him. Appellant then took the check to a nearby bank, in an attempt to cash it. Herbert Blakeney took $1,500.00 from Mr. Love's pocket, and he and Kenneth Miller took turns keeping watch at a window, and holding Mr. Love at gunpoint, to ensure that he could answer the phone.

Appellant was unable to have the check cashed at the bank[] because of inadequate identification. [Appellant] returned to the law office, and said to Mr. Love: "You know you are a dead motherfucker now." Blakeney then gave the gun to Kenneth Miller while he (Blakeney) took Mr. Love into the storage closet and laid him on the floor next to Mr. Barry. Kenneth Miller gave the gun back to Blakeney and urged him to kill the victims, saying, "You are a bitch ass nigger, if you don't kill the motherfuckers". Blakeney subsequently then shot both victim's [sic] in the head. [Appellant], Blakeney and Kenneth Miller then split the $1,500.00 taken from the robbery and went shopping. Blakeney subsequently returned the gun to Gregory Miller, but did not give him any money, telling him that they had been unable to cash the check, and omitting telling him of the $1,500.00 taken from Mr. Love.

(Trial Court Supplemental Opinion filed January 20, 2004, at 2-4) (internal citations omitted). ¶ 3 Blakeney pled guilty to two counts of murder and agreed to testify at Appellant's trial in exchange for concurrent life sentences. The Honorable James F. Fitzgerald, III, presided over Appellant's jury trial and the subsequent penalty phase, after which the jury returned verdicts of death for each of Appellant's murder convictions. On December 20, 1999, the sentencing court formally imposed concurrent death penalty sentences for the murder convictions and imposed concurrent sentences of five (5) to twenty (20) years' imprisonment for the robbery conviction and twenty (20) to forty (40) years' imprisonment for the criminal conspiracy conviction.

¶ 4 Appellant's counsel filed post-sentence motions on December 28, 1999, requesting a judgment of acquittal and/or arrest of judgment. Therein, counsel alleged:

The evidence was insufficient to sustain the verdict of first degree murder, the verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence and the verdict was contrary to the law. In support thereof, the sole evidence at trial was based upon Commonwealth witness Herbert Blakeney who admitted from the stand that he was a chronic liar. There was no physical evidence to support the verdict, and the statement of [Appellant] which was admitted into evidence supported [Appellant's] theory of the case that he did not have knowledge of the murders.

(Post-sentence motions, 12/28/99, ¶ 4).

¶ 5 Upon request, trial counsel was permitted to withdraw, and Richard E. Johnson, Esquire was appointed as replacement counsel. On August 23, 2000, Attorney Johnson filed amended post-sentence motions, the trial court heard oral argument thereon, and the court denied Appellant's motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment.

¶ 6 Appellant appealed his judgment of sentence to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and on May 29, 2002, the Court granted his petition to remand for resentencing and remanded for a new sentencing hearing.⁴ Thereafter, Attorney Johnson was permitted to withdraw and present counsel was appointed. On August 20, 2003, the Honorable Jane Cutler Greenspan conducted a sentencing hearing, following which she imposed consecutive terms of life imprisonment for the two murder convictions. The sentences for the robbery and criminal conspiracy convictions remained the same and were ordered to run concurrently with the life sentences. This timely appeal followed wherein Appellant raises the following issues:

DID THE COMMONWEALTH PRESENT SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO PROVE [APPELLANT] GUILTY OF MURDER IN THE FIRST DEGREE WHERE SOMEONE OTHER THAN [APPELLANT] ADMITTED TO THE KILLINGS AND THIS [APPELLANT] WAS NOT PHYSICALLY PRESENT AT THE TIME OF THE KILLING?

DID THE TRIAL COURT ABUSE ITS DISCRETION IN DENYING [APPELLANT'S] MOTION FOR A NEW TRIAL BASED UPON THE COMMONWEALTH'S FAILURE TO PRESENT EVIDENCE OF SUFFICIENT WEIGHT IN THAT THE COURT FAILED TO ARTICULATE ANY FINDINGS OF FACT ON THE RECORD TO SUPPORT ITS HOLDING?

DID THE SENTENCING COURT ON REMAND ERR IN SENTENCING [APPELLANT] TO CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES WHERE THE ORIGINAL SENTENCES WERE TO BE SERVED CONCURRENTLY?

(Appellant's Brief at 4).

¶ 7 Appellant first argues that the Commonwealth presented insufficient evidence to sustain the convictions for first degree murder. Specifically, he claims that the Commonwealth failed to prove that he had the specific intent to kill because he was not present when co-defendant Blakeney actually shot the two victims. Appellant contends that by leaving the scene, he successfully withdrew from any conspiracy. (Appellant's Brief at 11-12). This contention is totally without merit.

¶ 8 On a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction,

we review the evidence admitted at trial, along with any reasonable inferences that may be drawn from that evidence, in the light most favorable to the verdict winner. Commonwealth v. Rivera, 565 Pa. 289, 295, 773 A.2d 131, 135 (2001); Commonwealth v. Bullick, 830 A.2d 998, 1000 (Pa.Super.2003). A conviction will be upheld if after

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