Com. v. Michael

• Decision Date: 17 April 1996
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Hubert L. MICHAEL, Jr., Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 1044

674 A.2d 1044

544 Pa. 105

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Hubert L. MICHAEL, Jr., Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Oct. 26, 1995.

Decided April 17, 1996.

Bruce P. Blocher, York, for Hubert L. Michael, Jr.

Christy Fawcett, York, and Robert A. Graci, Attorney General's Office, for the Commonwealth.

Before NIX, C.J., and FLAHERTY, ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE and MONTEMURO, JJ.

OPINION OF THE COURT

CASTILLE, Justice:

This is an automatic direct appeal from the judgment of sentence of death imposed on appellant, Hubert Michael, by the Court of Common Pleas of York County. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm the judgment of sentence.

The underlying procedural history in this case establishes the following: On October 11, 1994, appellant was brought to trial in connection with the kidnapping and shooting death of 16 year-old Trista Eng. ¹ During jury selection, appellant, through counsel, informed the trial court that he wished to waive his right to a jury trial and plead guilty to first degree murder and kidnapping. Following an extensive colloquy, appellant indicated that his waiver was knowing and voluntary and testified to the following: "I picked up Trista Eng on Route 15. Abducted her at gunpoint. Took her to the state game lands. At which point, when we got out of the car, I shot her three times intentionally." (N.T. 10/11/94 at 66). ² When the Commonwealth asked appellant why he shot the victim, appellant stated that he thought that he had been unjustly accused of an unrelated rape charge in Lancaster County and stated, "... I was under a lot of pressure for the rape. I guess, I lashed out and angry [sic] and maybe I took it out on a woman because it was a woman who was doing this to me." (N.T. 10/11/94 at 74). The trial court accepted appellant's guilty plea to first degree murder and kidnapping and scheduled a non-jury sentencing hearing in the Court of Common Pleas of York County for October 17, 1994.

Six days after he pleaded guilty to first degree murder, on October 17, 1994, appellant informed the trial court that he wished to withdraw his guilty plea. The trial court denied the request, finding on the record that appellant's guilty plea was knowing and voluntary. (N.T. 10/17/94 at 5-8). Thereafter, pursuant to appellant's request that he be sentenced by a jury, the trial court continued the hearing so that a jury could be selected. ³

On March 3, 1995, the sentencing court conducted a pre-sentencing conference, during which appellant indicated to the sentencing court that he did not want defense counsel At the sentencing hearing, on March 20, 1995, with jury selection set to begin, appellant again informed the sentencing court that he did not wish to present any evidence of mitigating circumstances. Appellant also informed the sentencing court that he wanted to waive his right to be sentenced by a jury and was willing to stipulate to the Commonwealth's two aggravating circumstances. The two aggravating circumstances presented by the Commonwealth were that: (1) the killing occurred during the perpetration of a felony, the felony of kidnapping, 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(d)(6); and (2) that appellant had a significant history of felony convictions, including an attempted armed robbery conviction in 1974 and a 1994 rape conviction in Lancaster County, 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(d)(9). During a lengthy colloquy, ⁴ appellant stated that he had discussed his decision with his attorney and that he understood that if he stipulated to the aggravating circumstances and did not present any mitigating circumstances that the death penalty would be imposed. ⁵ Thereafter, the trial court found that the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances and imposed the death penalty. (N.T. 3/20/95 at 17).

to present any mitigating circumstances at the sentencing hearing. Nevertheless, the sentencing court instructed appellant's counsel to be prepared to present any possible mitigating circumstances for the sentencing hearing and informed appellant that it would be his option at the sentencing hearing to present any such mitigating circumstances.

With respect to the claims now before us, we note at the outset that appellant, through his counsel's brief and through an affidavit signed by appellant subsequent to his sentencing, has expressed his desire to have his judgment of sentence of death affirmed by this Court. ⁶ Nonetheless, as is Here, the evidence of record establishes that appellant's brother testified at the preliminary hearing that he visited appellant while he was incarcerated in the Lancaster County prison for an unrelated rape charge when appellant told him that he shot and killed a woman and hid her body in the State Game Lands in York County. Thereafter, appellant's brother, along with several other members of appellant's family, searched the area described by appellant and eventually found a badly decomposed body wearing the remnants of a Hardee's restaurant uniform. Appellant's family summoned the Pennsylvania State Police and the body was later identified as that of Trista Eng, the victim, who had been reported missing for approximately six weeks previously. On August 27, 1993, appellant was arrested and charged with the first degree murder.

required in all cases in which the death penalty has been imposed, this Court must conduct an independent review of the sufficiency of the evidence. Commonwealth v. Zettlemoyer, 500 Pa. 16, 26, 454 A.2d 937, 942 (1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 970, 103 S.Ct. 2444, 77 L.Ed.2d 1327 (1983), reh'g denied, 463 U.S. 1236, 104 S.Ct. 31, 77 L.Ed.2d 1452 (1983). In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, this Court must determine whether the evidence was sufficient to establish that the factfinder could have reasonably determined that all of the elements of the offenses were proven beyond a reasonable doubt, viewing all of the evidence and the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as the verdict winner. Commonwealth v. Walker, 540 Pa. 80, 656 A.2d 90, 94 (1995), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 156, 133 L.Ed.2d 100 (1995). In order to prove first degree murder, the Commonwealth must demonstrate that a human being was unlawfully killed, that the defendant did the killing, and that the killing was done in an intentional, deliberate and premeditated manner. Commonwealth v. LaCava, 542 Pa. 160, 666 A.2d 221, 226 (1995). Furthermore, the use of a deadly weapon on a vital part of the body is sufficient evidence to prove the specific intent to kill. Commonwealth v. Butler, 446 Pa. 374, 378, 288 A.2d 800, 802 (1972); 18 Pa.C.S. § 2502.

At appellant's guilty plea hearing, appellant testified that on the morning of July 12, 1993, he drove his car alongside the victim while she walked to her summer job at Hardee's restaurant, and asked the victim if she wanted a ride to work. ⁷ The victim accepted his invitation and entered appellant's car. At some point thereafter, appellant pulled out a gun, threatened the victim and drove to a remote location in the State Game Lands in York County. Appellant then forced the victim out of the car and shot her with a .44 magnum: once in the chest, once in the back and once in the back of the head from a distance of five to six feet. Appellant then dragged the victim's body approximately thirty feet into some weeds in order to hide it. ⁸ When asked why he shot the victim, appellant stated that he had recently been unjustly accused of rape by a woman in an unrelated matter in Lancaster County and that, therefore, he wanted to vent his anger on the victim since she too was a woman. Finally, when asked whether it was his intention to shoot the victim, appellant stated, "Probably." (N.T. 10/11/94 at 72). Clearly, the evidence of record, including appellant's admission to the kidnapping and murder under oath, is sufficient to support appellant's judgment of sentence for first degree murder.

Next, pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(h)(3), this Court has a duty to affirm Upon reviewing the record below, we conclude that the sentence imposed upon appellant was not the product of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor but, rather, was based upon the unrefuted evidence, much of which was provided by appellant's own statements and testimony. In the instant case, the two aggravating factors that were found were a killing during the perpetration of a felony and a significant history of felony convictions. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(d)(6) and (d)(9). The evidence that appellant picked up the victim by offering her a ride to work and then drove her to a remote location at gunpoint before shooting her three times at point blank range with a heavy caliber hand gun and that appellant was previously convicted of attempted armed robbery in 1974 and of rape in 1994, amply supports both aggravating circumstances. See Commonwealth v. Miller, 541 Pa. 531, 664 A.2d 1310, 1324 (1995) (evidence was sufficient to support both aggravating circumstances where the victim was murdered during the course of her kidnapping and the defendant had a significant history of felony convictions). Where there are no mitigating factors and a finding of at least one aggravating circumstance, the sentencing court has no discretion but to impose the death penalty. Commonwealth v. Smith, 511 Pa. 343, 358-59, 513 A.2d 1371, 1378 (1986), citing, 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(c)(1)(iv).

the sentence of death unless we determine that: (i) the sentence of death was the product of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor; (ii) the evidence fails to support the finding of at least one aggravating circumstance specified in subsection (d); or (iii) the sentence of death is excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the circumstances of the crime and the character and record of the defendant. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(h)(3).

Additionally, in accordance with ...