Com. v. Reyes

• Decision Date: 30 March 2005
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Angel REYES, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

870 A.2d 888

582 Pa. 317

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Angel REYES, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted July 8, 2002.

Decided March 30, 2005.

Christina Allison Swarns, Philadelphia, for Angel Reyes, appellant.

Amy Zapp, Harrisburg, Patricia N. Holsten, for the Com. of PA, appellee.

Before: CAPPY, C.J., CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR, EAKIN and BAER, JJ.

OPINION

Chief Justice CAPPY.

In this capital case, Appellant Angel Reyes was convicted of, inter alia, first degree murder and sentenced to death. Appellant filed a second amended petition under the Post Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA"), 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 9541-9546. Presently, Appellant appeals from that portion of the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County that denied him collateral relief from his convictions.¹ For the reasons that follow, we affirm the PCRA court's order.

The relevant facts and procedural history are as follows. Appellant and Julia Martinez lived together and were the natural parents of the decedent, four year old Marcia Reyes. By a previous relationship, Julia had older sons, Javier and Louis, who were a source of dissension between Appellant and Julia. After an altercation with Javier, Appellant threatened Julia that she would find Marcia in the river with her throat slashed if Julia ever had him arrested. On May 25, 1993, upon learning that Louis had visited with Julia and Marcia, Appellant left his home, taking Marcia with him. That evening, Appellant presented himself at the Chester Police Station and stated to both Sergeant Lawrence Platt and Detective Walter Loveland that he killed his daughter. Later, Appellant told the Sergeant that he put Marcia in the water. Appellant also made incriminating statements regarding his involvement in Marcia's death to Detective Robert Blythe. The next day, Marcia's body was discovered in the Delaware River, about four miles from Appellants home. The coroner determined that Marcia drowned and classified her death as a homicide.

Appellant was arrested and charged with first degree murder, 18 Pa.C.S. § 2502(a), aggravated assault, 18 Pa.C.S. § 2702(a)(1), and endangering the welfare of children, 18 Pa.C.S. § 4304.

Under Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), Appellant filed a motion to suppress all of the statements that he made to the police. The Honorable Frank T. Hazel presided at the suppression hearing. While the statements Appellant made to Detective Blythe were suppressed, the statements he made to Sergeant Platt and Detective Loveland were held to be admissible.

Following a bench trial before Judge Hazel, Appellant was found guilty on all charges in November of 1993. Inasmuch as the Commonwealth sought the death penalty, a jury was empaneled for sentencing. The jury returned a verdict of death on January 13, 1994, finding one aggravating factor, that the victim was a child under twelve years of age, 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(d)(16), and no mitigating factors. Appellant filed motions for reconsideration of sentence and/or a new sentence, which were denied. Appellant filed a supplemental motion for a new sentencing trial, which was also denied. On July 19, 1994, the trial court imposed a sentence of death for the first degree murder conviction and a consecutive 2 1/2 to 5 year term of imprisonment for the endangering the welfare of children conviction upon Appellant. Daniel Finnegan, Esquire and Christopher McGrane, Esquire were Appellant's trial and penalty phase counsel.

On July 31, 1996, on direct appeal, this Court affirmed the judgment of sentence. Commonwealth v. Reyes, 545 Pa. 374, 681 A.2d 724 (1996). At that time, Appellant was represented by Attorneys Patrick Connors and William Ruane. Appellant filed a petition seeking a writ of certiorari in the United States Supreme Court.

On November 21, 1996, while the writ of certiorari was still pending, Appellant filed a pro se PCRA petition. In February of 1997, new counsel was appointed, and Appellant filed an amended PCRA petition. Both of these petitions were withdrawn. The Supreme Court denied Appellant's petition for a writ of certiorari on April 14, 1997. Reyes v. Commonwealth, 520 U.S. 1174, 117 S.Ct. 1445, 137 L.Ed.2d 551 (1997). Appellant's death warrant was signed on May 6, 1997. On May 21, 1997, Appellant filed an emergency motion for stay of execution and asked that his prior PCRA petitions be reinstated. Appellant's emergency motion was granted on May 23, 1997. New counsel was appointed, and on January 23, 1998, Petitioner filed a second Amended PCRA petition (the "Petition"). Beginning on July 29, 1999 and ending on November 20, 2000, the PCRA court, with Judge Hazel again presiding, held evidentiary hearings. By a clarifying order dated July 26, 2001, the PCRA court vacated Appellant's death penalty and granted him a new sentencing hearing, but denied Appellant relief from his convictions. This appeal followed.²

In order to be eligible for PCRA relief, a petitioner must establish by a preponderance of the evidence that his conviction or sentence resulted from one or more of the enumerated grounds in 42 Pa.C.S. § 9543(a)(2), and that the allegation of error has not been previously litigated or waived. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9543(a)(3). Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9544(a)(2), an issue is previously litigated "if the highest appellate court in which the petitioner could have had review as a matter of right has ruled on the merits of the issue [.]" Under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9544(b), an issue is waived "if the petitioner could have raised it but failed to do so before trial, at trial, during unitary review, on appeal or in a prior state postconviction proceeding." Moreover, following Commonwealth v. Albrecht, 554 Pa. 31, 720 A.2d 693 (1998), the relaxed waiver doctrine no longer applies in PCRA appeals cases.

Presently, Appellant presents the court with five issues.³ We begin with the two issues that Appellant raises regarding the admission at trial of the incriminating statements he made to Sergeant Platt and Detective Loveland as evidence of his guilt.

The first such issue relates to our determination on direct appeal that the trial court misapplied the corpus delicti rule.⁴ Reyes, 681 A.2d at 730. Presently, Appellant focuses on our decision to affirm his judgment of sentence on direct appeal, despite the trial court's error. Id. at 732. Relying on Sullivan v. Louisiana, 508 U.S. 275, 113 S.Ct. 2078, 124 L.Ed.2d 182 (1993), Appellant contends that a violation of the corpus delicti rule is a constitutional error of structural proportions that is not amenable to harmless error.⁵ Thus, according to Appellant, this court erred on direct appeal when it applied a harmless error type of analysis to a corpus delicti rule violation. Appellant further asserts that the PCRA court's conclusion that the issue he raises was previously litigated is erroneous.

By way of background, at trial, Appellant took exception to the quantum of proof that the trial court required of the Commonwealth in establishing the corpus delicti, arguing that the trial court did not require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. See supra, n. 4. Appellant also excepted to the trial court's ruling that since the Commonwealth proved the corpus delicti to its satisfaction, it, as factfinder, could consider Appellant's incriminating statements on the issue of his guilt.

In his Statement of Matters Complained of on Appeal, Appellant reasserted these issues. In its responsive opinion dated December 7, 1994, the trial court gave alternative holdings on Appellant's corpus delicti challenge. First, the trial court concluded that the Commonwealth met the burden of proof on the corpus delicti that Pennsylvania law requires and that, therefore, Appellant's incriminating statements were properly admitted and considered. Alternatively, the trial court concluded that even without the inculpatory statements, the evidence of record was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt both the corpus delicti of the crimes charged and Appellant's guilt.

On direct appeal, Appellant argued that the trial court ignored the two-tiered burden of proof requirement of the corpus delicti rule and erred, therefore, in considering his incriminating statements. This court determined that Appellant was correct, concluding that "although the trial court employed the proper standard for admitting his judicial statements, the trial court failed to utilize the correct [beyond a reasonable doubt] standard regarding its consideration of the statement[s]." Reyes, 681 A.2d at 730. At the same time, however, we denied Appellant relief, determining that "even excluding the alleged erroneously admitted inculpatory statements of Appellant . . . the circumstantial evidence alone was sufficient to convict Appellant of murder." Id. In doing so, we agreed with the trial court's alternative holding, stating that "we [were] satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to support the trial court's conclusion that the Commonwealth proved Appellant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt even excluding Appellant's extra-judicial statements." Id.

In now asserting that this court should not have applied a harmless error analysis to the trial court's corpus delicti rule violation, Appellant is challenging this court's review and affirmation of the trial court's alternative holding in its December 7, 1994 opinion. That is to say, the error that Appellant presently raises as to the nature and consequences of a corpus delicti rule violation originated in the trial court. Inasmuch as Appellant could have raised the trial court's alternative holding as contrary to Sullivan on direct appeal, but did not, the issue he raises in his Petition is waived under the PCRA. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9544(b). Thus, the PCRA court was correct in not reaching the issue on the merits.⁶

Appellant raises a second challenge to the trial court's consideration of the incriminating statements as evidence of...