Com. v. Lopez
| Decision Date | 01 October 1999 |
| Citation | 739 A.2d 485,559 Pa. 131 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. George Ivan LOPEZ, Appellant. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Eugene R. Mayberry, Slatington, for G. Lopez.
Theodore Racines, Allentown, Robert A. Graci, Harrisburg, for Com.
Before FLAHERTY, C.J., and ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN and SAYLOR, JJ.
On March 19, 1996, a jury found Appellant George Ivan Lopez guilty of the first-degree murder of David Bolasky and related charges.1 Appellant had been tried jointly with co-defendant Edwin Romero, who was also convicted of the first-degree murder of David Bolasky. Following a sentencing hearing, the jury found that two aggravating circumstances and no mitigating circumstances had been established in connection with Appellant's participation in the murder of Mr. Bolasky.2 Accordingly, the jury returned a verdict of death against Appellant. On April 17, 1996, the trial court formally imposed the death sentence against Appellant. This direct appeal followed.3 For the reasons discussed below, we affirm the judgment of sentence.
For purposes of this appeal, the record below establishes the following relevant facts. On January 3, 1995, David Bolasky, an architect, went to an Allentown apartment building that he owned to collect rent from his tenants. Shortly after his arrival there, Mr. Bolasky was beaten, robbed, and strangled to death inside the third floor apartment of the building. On January 6, 1995, the police found Mr. Bolasky's van. The van had been wiped down, inside and out, in an effort to eliminate any latent fingerprints. Later that same day, the police found Mr. Bolasky's frozen body, wrapped in bed sheets, in the woods along a secluded road in Allentown. Upon unraveling the bed sheets containing Mr. Bolasky's body, the police discovered that his wrists and ankles had been hog-tied together. In addition, the twisted towel that Mr. Bolasky's murderers used to strangle him to death was found still wrapped around his neck. An autopsy revealed that Mr. Bolasky had been hit in the head with a blunt instrument prior to being strangled, and defensive wounds found on Mr. Bolasky's arms indicated that he had struggled to defend himself against the individuals who had attacked and murdered him.
Several weeks after the murder, Appellant's nephew, Miguel Moreno, made statements to the police incriminating himself, Appellant, Edwin Romero and George Barbosa in the robbery and murder of Mr. Bolasky. Based largely on Miguel Moreno's statements, the police obtained a warrant for Appellant's arrest. On January 21, 1995, the police found Appellant in Orlando, Florida.4 At the time of his arrest, Appellant was discovered hiding in a closet with clothes piled on top of him. Following his arrest, he gave several statements to the police. Although Appellant initially denied any involvement in the robbery and murder of Mr. Bolasky5, each of his successive statements to the police placed him closer to the crime, and evidenced a more intimate knowledge of the particular circumstances surrounding the killing.6
Appellant's joint jury trial with co-defendant Edwin Romero commenced on March 7, 1996. At trial, Miguel Moreno testified that on January 3, 1995, Appellant, Romero and Barbosa planned to rob and murder Moreno's landlord, Mr. Bolasky, after he collected the rent from his tenants.7 According to Moreno's testimony, the group's initial plan was to rob Mr. Bolasky, then shoot him in the head in an alleyway adjoining the apartment building. However, when the men went to Moreno's third-floor apartment to await Mr. Bolasky's arrival, they abandoned their former plan, and instead instructed Moreno to lure Mr. Bolasky up to his apartment by offering to pay his rent, at which time Appellant, Romero and Barbosa would rob him.8 Moreno testified that he did as he was instructed, informing Mr. Bolasky that he had $700 in rent money to pay him. Moreno gave Mr. Bolasky approximately $350 and told him that the rest of the money was up in his apartment. Mr. Bolasky immediately made out a rent receipt for Moreno, and then followed him up to his apartment to collect the balance of the rent money. Unbeknownst to Mr. Bolasky, Romero and Barbosa were lying in wait for him in the bathroom of Moreno's apartment. Meanwhile, Appellant sat on Moreno's sofa, feigning indifference to Mr. Bolasky's arrival and pretending to watch television.
According to Moreno, he left his apartment as soon as Mr. Bolasky entered it. Moreno testified that he explained his sudden departure to Mr. Bolasky by telling him that he had to get change for a $100 bill. Moreno actually went downstairs to the first floor apartment of Nancy Roman, where he engaged Nancy and Lisette Roman in conversation in order to keep them from going upstairs and inadvertently interrupting the robbery. Approximately twenty minutes later, Moreno went back up to his apartment to see what was happening. When Moreno knocked on the door to his apartment, Appellant would not let him in, and told him that he did not want to see what had happened inside. Moreno testified that he went back downstairs and a few minutes later, saw Romero and Barbosa carrying Mr. Bolasky's body, tied and wrapped in bed sheets, down the stairs of the apartment building. Moreno also testified that he saw Appellant sitting in the driver's seat of Mr. Bolasky's white van out in front of the apartment building, and watched as Romero and Barbosa threw the body into the van. While Appellant, Romero and Barbosa drove off with Mr. Bolasky's body, Moreno went back up to his apartment and attempted to clean Mr. Bolasky's blood off of his floor.9 George Barbosa also testified at Appellant's trial. Prior to the trial, Barbosa gave a tape-recorded confession concerning his role in the murder of Mr. Bolasky to Captain Bucarey of the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office. In his confession, Barbosa also implicated Appellant, Romero and Moreno in the planning and execution of the murder. Barbosa specifically indicated that he and Romero hid inside Moreno's bathroom until Mr. Bolasky arrived, at which time he, Appellant and Romero robbed and assaulted him. Barbosa also confessed that he attempted to break Mr. Bolasky's neck with a string, and that when that failed, he wrapped a towel around Mr. Bolasky's neck and took turns with Appellant and Romero twisting it until Mr. Bolasky was dead. Barbosa stated that they wrapped Mr. Bolasky's body in bed sheets, carried it down the stairs, and placed it in Mr. Bolasky's van. Barbosa, Appellant and Romero then drove to a desolate area of Lehigh County, dumped the body, and abandoned the van. Following his confession, Barbosa pled guilty and received a life sentence.
On the witness stand at Appellant's trial, Barbosa testified that he gave Appellant two .38 caliber pistols, and that Appellant told him to go hide in the bathroom until Moreno lured Mr. Bolasky up to the apartment. When Mr. Bolasky entered the apartment, Barbosa came out of the bathroom and saw Appellant hit Mr. Bolasky on the head with one of the .38 pistols. Appellant then gave Barbosa some rope and told him that Mr. Bolasky had to be killed, or else Moreno would end up going to jail for the robbery and assault. Appellant told Barbosa to put the rope around Mr. Bolasky's neck and strangle him. Barbosa complied, but when he tried to strangle Mr. Bolasky with the rope, it broke. At that point, Barbosa testified that Appellant ordered him to go to the kitchen to get something else with which to strangle Mr. Bolasky, and to get something with which to stab him in the neck in order to stop him from screaming. Barbosa returned with a towel and a small kitchen knife, and unsuccessfully attempted to cut Mr. Bolasky's throat with the knife. Barbosa then wrapped the towel around Mr. Bolasky's neck, and Appellant and Barbosa took turns twisting the towel until Mr. Bolasky was dead.
Barbosa testified that once Mr. Bolasky was dead, Appellant went through Mr. Bolasky's pockets and took his wallet, his wedding band, his jewelry, and the keys to his van. Appellant and Barbosa proceeded to tie Mr. Bolasky's body up, and wrapped it in bed sheets. While Barbosa finished wrapping up the body, Appellant went and got Mr. Bolasky's van. Barbosa testified that he dragged the body down the stairs, put it in the van and drove off with Appellant to dispose of it. After they dumped the body, Appellant parked the van, wiped away any fingerprints that they might have made inside the van and threw away Mr. Bolasky's briefcase and keys.
Barbosa further testified that, while he was incarcerated at the Lehigh County Prison, Appellant approached him and got him to agree upon a fictionalized account of their activities on the day that Mr. Bolasky was murdered (i.e., to get their stories straight). According to their agreed-upon story, Appellant and Barbosa were not involved in the actual robbery and murder of Mr. Bolasky, but only became involved after Moreno asked for their help in disposing of the body.
Noticeably absent from Barbosa's testimony at Appellant's joint trial with Romero was any testimony concerning Romero's participation in the killing. In fact, Barbosa flatly refused to answer any questions concerning Romero's involvement in the killing, despite the fact that his earlier confession to Captain Bucarey squarely implicated Romero in both the planning and the consummation of the robbery/murder. As a result, the trial judge held Barbosa in contempt of court, and granted the Commonwealth's request to have Captain Bucarey read into the record those portions of the transcript of Barbosa's tape-recorded confession that implicated Romero in the commission of the murder of Mr. Bolasky.10
While Appellant was incarcerated in Lehigh County Prison awaiting trial, he developed an acquaintanceship with a fellow...
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