Com. v. Mangini

• Decision Date: 28 April 1978
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Anthony Robert MANGINI, Appellant (two cases).
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 482

386 A.2d 482

478 Pa. 147

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Anthony Robert MANGINI, Appellant (two cases).

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued March 10, 1978.

Decided April 28, 1978.

[478 Pa. 151] Robert G. Huhta, Erie, for appellant.

Richard A. Hernan, Jr., Dist. Atty., Warren, for appellee.

Before EAGEN, C. J., and O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY, NIX, MANDERINO and LARSEN, JJ.

OPINION

LARSEN, Justice.

On February 12, 1976, Jason Jones was shot and killed in his room at Warren State Hospital. Appellant, Anthony Mangini, was arrested and charged with the homicide. On June 27, 1976, a jury determined appellant guilty of first-degree murder. Post-trial motions were denied and, on December 27, 1976, a sentence of life-imprisonment was imposed, from which judgment one of the two appeals is taken.

Following the conviction, but prior to sentencing, defense counsel filed a petition for a writ of error coram nobis (to correct errors of fact.) That petition alleged that facts were brought to counsel's attention of which he was not previously aware, and that, had those facts been known at appellant's pretrial suppression hearing, the lower court would have ruled to suppress certain evidence which was ruled admissible. By order dated February 3, 1977, the lower court denied that petition and appellant appeals the denial. On March 23, 1977, we granted appellant's application to consolidate the two appeals.

Since this case involves a conviction for murder of the first-degree, we have an independent duty to review the sufficiency of the evidence. Act of February 15, 1870, P.L. 15, § 2, 19 P.S. § 1187. In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the verdict winner, in this case the Commonwealth. Commonwealth v. Blevins, 453 Pa. 481, 309 A.2d 421 (1973). The test to be applied is whether accepting as true all of the evidence, direct or circumstantial, and all reasonable inferences therefrom upon which, if believed, the jury could, properly have based its verdict, it is sufficient in law to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty of the crime with which he is charged. Commonwealth v. Pitts, 450 Pa. 359, 301 A.2d 646 (1973).

In that light, therefore, the testimony at trial disclosed the following. At approximately 1:45 A.M. on February 12, 1976, the victim was found dead in his hospital bed. The death was caused by shot gun wounds of the chest. Commonwealth witness Floyd Crossley, a patient at the hospital occupying the same room as the deceased, testified that he saw appellant enter the room, shine a flashlight on the victim who was asleep, raise what he thought was a cane, aim it at the victim and fire two shots in succession. He further testified that appellant fled from his room in the direction of the day room, which was in the direction of the parking lot.

When state police arrived at the hospital shortly thereafter, they observed and photographed shoe prints leading from the exit door to the parking lot and tire tracks beginning where the footprints ended. These shoe and tire impressions were made in freshly fallen snow. At trial, Richard Greene, a state police identification officer, testified he compared the photograph of the shoe print with one of appellant's shoes and that, in his opinion, the print was made by appellant's shoe, which shoe had been seized pursuant to a search warrant. He further testified that upon comparison of the photograph of the tire imprint taken at the scene with ink impressions taken from a tire on a vehicle registered in the name of appellant's wife, the tire from said vehicle was the same tire which made the tracks in the snow at the scene of the homicide.

Appellant, an employee at the hospital, had been working in the area where the victim was found. The victim had appellant's telephone number written on a piece of paper found in his wallet, and appellant admitted knowing the victim. The evidence against defendant was clearly sufficient to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Appellant assigns as error the illegality of the search and seizure procedure in which his shoe and the tires from the car registered to his wife were seized. These items, among others, were seized pursuant to several search warrants issued on February 18, 1976. The search warrants recited the same statements of probable cause indicating that incriminating evidence of a crime would be found. The probable cause set forth in the warrants is stated as follows:

1. Tire imprints left at the scene are similar to imprints of the tires of the Chevrolet 2-door Sedan registered in the name of Betty R. Mangini, Tag No. 07044T.

2. Accessibility to the building where the criminal homicide occurred since both Betty R. Mangini and Anthony R. Mangini, as employees have keys for said building and both worked in the area of the crime.

3. Investigative interviews revealed familiarity of both Betty R. Mangini and Anthony R. Mangini with the victim.

4. Availability both off duty at the approximate time the homicide occurred and both reside in the area.

5. Anthony R. Mangini and Betty R. Mangini are familiar with, and repeatedly used the door used by the perpetrator.

6. The phone number of the Mangini home to be searched on Valentine Run Road was found in the victim's wallet. The phone number is 757-8039.

7. The homicide resulted from firing of a shotgun.

8. Investigative interviews revealed that both Anthony R. Mangini and Betty R. Mangini are familiar with shotguns and firearms.

9. Said property to be seized was either used as a means of committing a criminal homicide or constitutes part of the evidence of the commission of a criminal offense the homicide above recited.

10. Composite picture by eyewitness strongly resembles Anthony R. Mangini.

As noted in paragraph # 1 of the warrants, the state police noticed a similarity between the tire imprints found at the scene and the tires found on the vehicle registered in the name of Betty Mangini. This similarity was discovered by the police officers on February 17, 1976, the day before the warrants were issued. Testimony given at the suppression hearing establishes that state troopers, suspicious of appellant's possible connection with the victim and possible involvement in the homicide, decided to locate appellant's two vehicles and compare the tires with the photographs of the imprints found at the murder site. Aware that appellant's daughter often drove one of the vehicles to her high school and usually parked in the parking lot, the officers drove to the parking lot and there observed the vehicle registered to Mrs. Mangini. At that point, they looked at the tires of the vehicle and observed tread and groove patterns similar to those of the imprint photographs. Neither the car nor its contents were seized at this time.

Appellant claims that this viewing of the tires of his wife's car was a violation of his Fourth Amendment guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures because there was no probable cause existing at that time which would justify the warrantless "search" of the car.

Evidence presented at the suppression hearing demonstrated that the composite picture noted in paragraph # 10 of the search warrants was not received by the state troopers until the 18th of February. Therefore, the composite picture, and its resemblance to appellant, could not supply probable cause for the view of the tires made on the 17th. Without the composite pictures, appellant contends there was no probable cause for the "search" of the 17th because the other reasons listed in the search warrants were either speculative, conclusory or were applicable to numerous other people in the general area of the homicide. Appellant cites Cardwell v. Lewis, 417 U.S. 583, 94 S.Ct. 2464, 41 L.Ed.2d 325 (1974) for the proposition that probable cause must exist before a warrantless examination of the exterior of a car is permissible.

We find it unnecessary to resolve the issue of whether or not there was probable cause existing when police first viewed the tires in question because we conclude that such a view was not a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment.

In Cardwell v. Lewis, supra, police had suspected the defendant's involvement in a murder and had requested him to come to their office for questioning. Defendant Lewis complied with this request, drove his car to police headquarters and parked it in a public lot nearby. Later that day, Lewis was placed under arrest. Upon the arrest, Lewis' car keys and the parking lot claim check were released to the police who had the car towed to the police impoundment lot.

The impounded car was examined the next day by police personnel who found that a tire on the car matched a tire impression found at the scene of the crime. Paint scrapings were also taken from the exterior of defendant's car and were determined to match paint scrapings found on the murder victim's car where it had been struck by another vehicle (defendant's).

On defendant's federal habeas corpus application, the district court concluded that the seizure and examination of his vehicle violated the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, and that the evidence obtained therefrom should have been excluded at trial. The circuit court of appeals affirmed.

In reversing the circuit court, the United States Supreme Court stated the issue as "whether the examination of an automobile's exterior upon probable cause invades a right to privacy which the interposition of a warrant requirement is meant to protect." Id. at 589, 94 S.Ct. at 2468. The Court focused its attention on the "essential purpose" of the Fourth Amendment which is to "shield the citizen from unwarranted intrusions into his privacy." Id.

Examining the recent cases involving searches of the interiors of vehicles, the U. S. Supreme Court noted that the search of automobiles is far less intrusive upon the rights safeguarded by...