Com. v. Martin

• Decision Date: 22 April 1994
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Maurice MARTIN, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 921

640 A.2d 921

433 Pa.Super. 280

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Maurice MARTIN, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Jan. 12, 1994.

Filed April 22, 1994.

Alan G. Goldberg, Lancaster, for appellant.

John A. Kenneff, Asst. Dist. Atty., Millerville, for Commonwealth, appellee.

Before CIRILLO, BECK and HOFFMAN, JJ.

BECK, Judge:

In this appeal from his judgment of sentence for third degree murder, appellant claims that the evidence at trial was insufficient to sustain the conviction. He also claims that the trial court improperly admitted prior bad acts evidence relating to his treatment of the victim. We find no merit to appellant's contentions and, accordingly, affirm.

Appellant was found guilty by a jury of the murder of four year old James Johnson ("James"), the son of his girlfriend, Deborah Johnson ("Mother"). At trial, the Commonwealth established the following. Appellant lived with Mother, James and the couple's infant daughter in an apartment in Lancaster. One Friday evening in the summer of 1991, appellant punished James for urinating on the curb outside their home. The form of punishment, which was witnessed by Mother and admitted by appellant, was that James was required to stand on a crate in the couple's bedroom for a period of at least four hours.

Mother fell asleep that evening while James was still standing on the crate; the next morning she left for work and noticed that James was sleeping in his bed. When she returned from work later that afternoon, she checked on her son, who was still sleeping, and noticed that he was snoring very loudly. James did not awaken at all that evening. Mother was scheduled to work a double shift that evening, starting at 11:00 P.M. Before leaving the apartment at 10:50 P.M., she took her infant to a neighbor because she knew that appellant would be going out later that night. She did not check on her son.

During the night and early morning hours, appellant drove to Coatesville to pick up a friend, Vincent Robinson ("Robinson"), who was to lend him money. When appellant arrived to pick up Robinson, James was lying in the back seat of the car and appeared to be sleeping. Robinson accompanied appellant to Mother's place of work and then to the Lancaster apartment. Robinson testified that he saw James open his eyes at some point before he entered or was carried into the house. However, in all the time Robinson was in the presence of James, he never saw the boy stand, walk or talk. Others who visited the apartment that night, including a female friend of appellant and a pizza delivery person, did not see or hear James at all. Robinson and appellant went to sleep at 2:00 or 3:00 A.M. At approximately 7:00 A.M while appellant was still sleeping, Robinson left the apartment. Before leaving, he saw James on the living room couch but could not tell whether the child was breathing.

At approximately 7:40 A.M., appellant telephoned Mother at work and asked if she would like him to buy her some food for lunch. Mother replied that she did not want him to buy her food. Despite this fact, appellant claimed, he took both children to the supermarket at 8:00 A.M. in order to purchase food for Mother. Once there, claimed appellant, he entered the store with his infant daughter in his arms and left James in the car. When he returned from the store, James was gone and appellant reported his disappearance to police.

Several witnesses were in the parking lot at the time appellant was there. A fireman, who was sitting in his fire truck at the time, did not see a child wandering around in the lot, nor did he see an adult with a four year old child. An employee of the store, who was sweeping out front, testified that she saw appellant enter the store with an infant in his arms, that less than five (5) minutes later appellant exited the store, approached her, and asked if she had seen a young boy. A Commonwealth re-creation of the events established that from his vantage point at the front of the store, appellant could not see into his car to know whether or not James was in the car. Appellant was interviewed on several occasions by police regarding the disappearance of James. His statements to police contained factual inconsistencies as well as denials, then admissions, about disciplining James that weekend. Ultimately, he was arrested and charged with the child's murder.

The Commonwealth's theory of the case was that appellant hit James in the head on Friday night, causing a subdural hematoma which resulted in his death. Appellant then disposed of the body and claimed that James was either taken or wandered off from the supermarket parking lot. To prove its case, the Commonwealth offered the testimony of a neurosurgeon who explained that the sleeping patterns exhibited by James were consistent with those of a person suffering from a subdural hematoma. In particular, the surgeon testified that the victim would lapse into a coma over the period of a few days and that the loud snoring heard by Mother was likely the result of a blocked air passage caused by the comatose state.

Because James's body never was found, the Commonwealth offered circumstantial proof of his death, including his age, the fact that no one saw him at the supermarket parking lot, the peculiar circumstances of the preceding two days wherein James was not seen conscious or awake by anyone, the inconsistent nature of appellant's statements to police after James's "disappearance," and the failure of hundreds of search volunteers to turn up any evidence of James's whereabouts.

In order to establish the malice necessary to prove murder, the Commonwealth provided testimony from several sources that appellant repeatedly abused James, both physically and mentally. Also offered as evidence by the Commonwealth was a statement made by appellant while in jail which was overheard by another inmate. While on the telephone, appellant said that the police were not looking in the right place, which was the local dump.

We first address appellant's claim that the evidence against him was insufficient to convict him of third degree murder. We will consider all of the testimony presented to the jury in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as verdict winner. Commonwealth v. Smith, 523 Pa. 577, 568 A.2d 600, 603 (1989), rev'd on other grounds, 532 Pa. 177, 615 A.2d 321 (1992). To prove homicide, the prosecution must establish that James is dead and that his death resulted from criminal means effected by appellant. Id. at 581-82, 568 A.2d at 602. In order to prove third degree murder, the prosecution must establish that appellant acted with malice. Commonwealth v. MacArthur, 427 Pa.Super. 409, 629 A.2d 166, 167 (1993).

The fact that James's body never was recovered does not preclude the government from proving that he is dead; proof of death may be established by circumstantial evidence. Smith, 523 Pa. at 586-88, 568 A.2d at 605. On appeal we review all of the circumstances to determine whether "an inference of death as a result of criminal agency is appropriate." Id.

James's disappearance occurred under suspicious circumstances. No one saw him in the parking lot or in the car and appellant appeared to claim he was missing even before he checked the car to see if the child was inside. Appellant went to the supermarket at an early hour despite the fact that Mother did not want him to purchase food for her. Appellant spent a very brief amount of time in the store before leaving without any groceries. He then approached the store employee. All of these rather curious circumstances allow an inference to be drawn that events did not occur as appellant claimed. Of even more significance were the days preceding James's disappearance, which proved quite odd. He was not seen awake or alert by any adult and remained in the sole care of appellant for most of the weekend. The last time he was seen awake was when he was standing on a crate in the couple's bedroom. Finally, appellant gave contradictory statements to police ¹ and to volunteers who searched in vain for James. ² All of these circumstances, in addition to appellant's statement in prison that police were not looking for the body in the "right place," support an inference that appellant was not telling the truth about James's disappearance. Appellant claims that James's disappearance was not unexplained or suspicious because he explained fully how and when the child disappeared. It is obvious, however, that the jury chose not to believe appellant's explanation.

We conclude that the evidence presented by the Commonwealth was sufficient to prove the death of James. See Commonwealth v. Burns, 409 Pa. 619, 187 A.2d 552 (1963) (fact of death established where last time victim was seen was in the presence of the defendant in a helpless condition in circumstances that would indicate she was unconscious or incapable of moving herself). See also Commonwealth v. Lettrich, 346 Pa. 497, 31 A.2d 155 (1943) (evidence of corpus delicti sufficient where baby last seen alive with defendant, baby was unable to move on its own, and defendant made contradictory statements to police about the child's disappearance).

In order to prove that it was appellant who was responsible for James's death, the Commonwealth relied in part on the principle that where an adult has sole custody of a child for a period of time, and during that time the child suffers injury that is not accidental or self-inflicted, the jury is permitted to infer that the adult inflicted the injuries. Commonwealth v. Paquette, 451 Pa. 250, 301 A.2d 837, 840 (1973). The evidence presented at trial clearly shows that...