Com. v. Mayfield

• Decision Date: 30 January 1991
• Citation: 401 Pa.Super. 560,585 A.2d 1069
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Charles MAYFIELD, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 1069

585 A.2d 1069

401 Pa.Super. 560

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Charles MAYFIELD, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued May 31, 1990.

Filed Jan. 30, 1991.

Marilyn J. Gelb, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Hugh Burns, Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, for Com., appellee.

Before ROWLEY, WIEAND, OLSZEWSKI, MONTEMURO, BECK, KELLY, POPOVICH, JOHNSON and FORD ELLIOTT, JJ.

FORD ELLIOTT, Judge:

Appellant appeals his conviction by a jury of aggravated assault and possession of instruments of crime generally. Appellant was acquitted of felonious aggravated assault and criminal conspiracy. Timely post-verdict motions were denied and appellant was sentenced to two and one-half to five years imprisonment on each conviction, sentences to run concurrently. ¹

The incident giving rise to this appeal occurred on November 14, 1983. John Maurer and Ernest Miller were driving their cars in opposite directions on narrow Cambridge Street in Philadelphia, and each found he was unable to pass the other. A dispute arose regarding who should back up and allow the other to pass, especially as Maurer's car had stalled. Appellant, Charles Mayfield, was a passenger in Miller's car, and Maurer and Mayfield exchanged words and a street fight ensued, which resulted in appellant's arrest. Appellant was charged with simple and aggravated assault involving swinging a baseball bat at Maurer, biting him on the chest and inflicting a stab wound on his chest with a knife. Appellant admitted at trial that he bit Maurer on the chest and that he pulled his knife during the course of the fight. However, he denied that he inflicted any stab wound upon Maurer and rather testified that when he produced his knife, Maurer ran away.

The issue as presented by the Commonwealth for this court's review is whether appellant is entitled to an instruction on self-defense when appellant denied committing the act for which he was convicted.

Self-defense is defined by statute as follows:

The use of force upon or toward another person is justifiable when the actor believes that such force is immediately necessary for the purpose of protecting himself against the use of unlawful force by such person on the present occasion.

18 Pa.C.S. § 505(a).

The use of deadly force is further limited by § 505(b)(2) which prohibits the use of such force except under circumstances where "the actor believes that such force is necessary to protect himself against death or serious bodily injury." Deadly force is defined as "[f]orce which, under the circumstances in which it is used, is readily capable of causing death or serious bodily injury." 18 Pa.C.S. § 501.

Before the issue of self-defense may be submitted to a jury for consideration, a valid claim of self-defense must be made out as a matter of law, and this determination must be made by the trial judge. Such claim may consist of evidence from whatever source. "Such evidence may be adduced by the defendant as part of his case, or conceivably, may be found in the Commonwealth's own case in chief or be elicited through cross-examination." Commonwealth v. Rose, 457 Pa. 380, 389, 321 A.2d 880, 884 (1974) (similarly discussing the type of evidence necessary to place in issue a defense of intoxication). However, such evidence from whatever source must speak to three specific elements for a claim of self-defense to be placed in issue for a jury's consideration.

Thus, as provided by statute and as interpreted through our case law, to establish the defense of self-defense it must be shown that a) the slayer was free from fault in provoking or continuing the difficulty which resulted in the slaying; b) that the slayer must have reasonably believed that he was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm, and that there was a necessity to use such force in order to save himself therefrom; and c) the slayer did not violate any duty to retreat or to avoid the danger. Commonwealth v. Myrick, 468 Pa. 155, 360 A.2d 598 (1976); Commonwealth v. Cropper, supra [463 Pa. 529, 345 A.2d 645] (1975).

Commonwealth v. Black, 474 Pa. 47, 52, 376 A.2d 627, 630 (1977). If there is any evidence from whatever source that will support these three elements then the decision as to whether the claim is a valid one is left to the jury and the jury must be charged properly thereon by the trial court.

Our case law makes it crystal clear that the charge of self-defense must be given upon request where the jury would have a possible basis for finding it. See Commonwealth v. Black, 474 Pa. 47, 376 A.2d 627 (1977).

While there is no burden on the defendant to prove a claim of self-defense, it is nevertheless required that before such a defense is properly in issue at trial, there must be some evidence, from whatever source, to justify such a finding. Commonwealth v. Black, supra at 53, 376 A.2d at 630. See also Commonwealth v. Walley, 466 Pa. 363, 367, n. 2, 353 A.2d 396, n. 2 (1976); Commonwealth v. Cropper, 463 Pa. 529, 537-538, 345 A.2d 645, 649 (1975).

Thus, if there was evidence which would have supported the claim of self-defense, it was for the trier of fact to pass upon that evidence and improper for the trial judge to exclude such consideration by refusing the charge. Commonwealth v. Gonzales, 463 Pa. 597, 345 A.2d 691 (1975); Commonwealth v. Lowe, 460 Pa. 357, 333 A.2d 765 (1975).

Commonwealth v. Brown, 491 Pa. 507, 512, 421 A.2d 660, 662 (1980); in accord, Commonwealth v. Bailey, 324 Pa.Super. 236, 471 A.2d 551 (1984) and Commonwealth v. Maione, 382 Pa.Super. 47, 554 A.2d 939 (1989). This is so even though the evidence of self-defense may appear to the trial court as not credible, for "it is the province of the trier of fact to pass upon the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be accorded the evidence produced ... The fact finder is free to believe all, part, or none of the evidence." Commonwealth v. Rose, 463 Pa. 264, 268, 344 A.2d 824, 826 (1975).

Having thus defined self-defense and the functions of both the trial court and the jury in assessing the evidence relative to the claim, we now must decide whether a claim of self-defense can be made out as a matter of law sufficient to go to the jury on instruction if the defendant denies committing the injury which represented the use of deadly force.

In support of the contention that appellant is not entitled to a self-defense instruction because he denied stabbing the victim, the Commonwealth cites to our supreme court's decisions in Commonwealth v. Gay, 489 Pa. 17, 413 A.2d 675 (1980), Commonwealth v. Powers, 484 Pa. 198, 398 A.2d 1013 (1979), Commonwealth v. Young, 460 Pa. 598, 334 A.2d 252 (1975) and Commonwealth v. Gray, 441 Pa. 91, 271 A.2d 486 (1970).

In Commonwealth v. Gay, supra, on appeal from denial of PCHA relief, Gay alleged the ineffectiveness of trial counsel for failing to appeal the trial court's refusal to charge on self-defense following his conviction of first degree murder and aggravated assault and battery. The supreme court in deciding this issue reviewed the Commonwealth's and Gay's version of the shooting which occurred.

According to the Commonwealth's evidence, appellant and one Vaughan Stockton were at a party at the home of his estranged wife, Falivia Gay, on April 24, 1971. An exchange took place in which appellant accused Stockton of being involved with his wife and invited him to leave the party. Appellant, his wife, and Stockton all went outside. Further words were exchanged and then appellant took out a gun that he was carrying, shot and wounded Stockton, and chased his wife down the street. Several shots were heard. Appellant's wife was found dead by the police. Appellant contended that Stockton had the gun, that it went off while he and Stockton were struggling with it, and that Stockton then chased him and his wife.

489 Pa. at 20, 413 A.2d at 677. The court cited Commonwealth v. Black, supra, for the proposition that Gay would have been acting in self-defense if, not being at fault in provoking the incident, he had done the shootings under a reasonable belief that his action was necessary to protect himself from death or serious bodily harm. However, the court then decided "[a]ppellant contended that Stockton was the perpetrator. Since he denied having done the shootings at all, there was no issue of self-defense." 489 Pa. at 21, 413 A.2d at 677 (citation omitted). In essence, the court concluded that there was no showing that appellant used deadly force in the belief that he was defending himself. Rather, at most, Gay's own testimony indicated that the gun discharged accidently during a struggle.

In Commonwealth v. Powers, supra, Powers argued on appeal that the trial judge committed reversible error in refusing to grant his request to instruct the jury concerning the law of self-defense. Powers relied on his own testimony as raising an inference that he was acting in self-defense.

Appellant testified that he and his companions went to the area of the intersection of 32nd and Berks Street (the area where the stabbing occurred) looking for some girls he had recently met, and that while they were asking a young man if he knew the girls, a gang suddenly emerged from a store wielding knives and began chasing them. While appellant testified he was afraid, the only physical contact which he said took place was that someone hit and pushed a 'dude' who was in front of them on 31st Street, and that a 'dude' came off a porch and tried to grab Howard Kemp (co-defendant) but that 'dude' fell back. Appellant flatly denied stabbing anyone and denied that any of his companions had been injured or had stabbed anyone.

484 Pa. at 208, 398 A.2d at 1015.

Again citing Black, supra, for the general rule on self-defense, the court stated that:

Before self-defense is in issue, there must be evidence introduced, from whatever source, to justify a finding that the killing may have been done in self-defense ... Our review of the record...