Com. v. Santiago

• Decision Date: 20 June 1995
• Citation: 541 Pa. 188,662 A.2d 610
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Salvador Carlos SANTIAGO, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 610

662 A.2d 610

541 Pa. 188

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Salvador Carlos SANTIAGO, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued March 7, 1995.

Decided June 20, 1995.

[541 Pa. 191] John Elash, Pittsburgh, for appellant.

Robert E. Colville, Dist. Atty., Claire C. Capristo, Deputy Dist. Atty., Scott A. Bradley, Pittsburgh, Robert A. Graci, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Harrisburg, for appellee.

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

OPINION

MONTEMURO, Justice.

Appellant, Salvador Carlos Santiago, was tried for the first time before a jury in November 1985. Appellant was charged with one count each of criminal homicide, robbery, and violation of the Uniform Firearms Act. ¹ At trial, Appellant presented an insanity defense, but ultimately was found guilty of all charges. The Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County denied Appellant's motions for post-verdict and supplementary post-verdict relief, and sentenced Appellant to death for first degree murder. Appellant was also sentenced to a consecutive term of imprisonment of ten to twenty years for robbery and two and one-half to five years for violation of the Uniform Firearms Act, to be served concurrently with the sentence for robbery.

Following Appellant's direct appeal to this Court, we vacated the judgment of sentence and remanded the matter to the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County for a new trial. Commonwealth v. Santiago, 528 Pa. 516, 599 A.2d 200 (1991). We concluded that Appellant's Fifth Amendment right to counsel had been violated when Appellant invoked his right to counsel with regard to a different offense, ² but was interrogated subsequently by Pittsburgh police with regard to this offense. Id. at 522, 599 A.2d at 202-203.

Appellant was tried for a second time on September 8, 1992. At the close of the Commonwealth's case, the trial court granted Appellant's demurrer to the count charging a violation of the Uniform Firearms Act. On September 9, 1992, the jury found Appellant guilty of first degree murder and robbery. In the penalty phase of the trial, the jury unanimously found three aggravating circumstances which outweighed two mitigating circumstances. Appellant's post-verdict motions were denied, and Appellant was sentenced to death for first degree murder and consecutively to ten to twenty years imprisonment for robbery. This automatic appeal follows.

Appellant presents three issues to this Court. First, Appellant contends the trial court erred in admitting the psychiatric testimony of Dr. Robert Wettstein, which was introduced in his first trial where insanity was the defense, because no such defense was proffered on retrial. Second, Appellant asserts that the trial court erred in concluding that Dr. Wettstein was "unavailable," thereby permitting the Commonwealth to introduce the transcript of his prior testimony at Appellant's second trial. Third, Appellant claims his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to cross-examine Dr. Wettstein regarding statements the doctor made in his testimony during Appellant's first trial. Before addressing the merits of these claims, however, we must review the sufficiency of the evidence supporting Appellant's conviction for first degree murder, Commonwealth v. Zettlemoyer, 500 Pa. 16, 454 A.2d 937 (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), and conduct our statutorily mandated proportionality review. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(h)(3)(iii).

Initially, we note that Appellant has not challenged the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his homicide conviction. ³ Nonetheless, we are required to conduct an independent review of the sufficiency of the evidence in every case involving a conviction for first degree murder. Zettlemoyer, 500 Pa. at 26 n. 3, 454 A.2d at 942 n. 3 (1982). We must determine whether the evidence and all reasonable inferences deducible therefrom, viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as verdict-winner, are sufficient to establish all the elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Rhodes, 510 Pa. 537, 540, 510 A.2d 1217, 1218 (1986). Circumstantial evidence alone is sufficient to establish a defendant's guilt. Commonwealth v. Gorby, 527 Pa. 98, 107, 588 A.2d 902, 906 (1991).

The facts are as follows: On January 17, 1985, at approximately 8:00 a.m., Patrick Huber arrived for work at Minuteman Press, located on Carson Street in the South Side of Pittsburgh. Around 8:30 a.m., Huber left the store and walked down Carson Street to a restaurant called the Pickle Barrel, where he received change and purchased cigarettes. He then left the Pickle Barrel and returned to Minuteman Press.

At approximately 8:40 a.m., Cindy Pasternak, Huber's co-employee, arrived at Minuteman Press and parked behind the building. When she approached the front of the building and looked in the window, she noticed that something was amiss. Specifically, Pasternak testified that the rear portion rather than front portion of the interior of the store was illuminated, and a stranger was in the employee-only area. Pasternak watched the stranger for approximately ten seconds at a distance of about fifteen feet before he noticed her, at which point Pasternak ran to the Pickle Barrel where she remained until the police arrived. ⁴

Responding to the radio call was Patrolman Donald Rosenberg, who found Huber lying face down in a utility room in Minuteman Press. Patrolman Rosenberg testified that Huber had a massive head injury to the rear of his head, which was later determined to have been caused by a single bullet. After permitting medical personnel to check the victim, Patrolman Rosenberg secured the building for homicide detectives. A search of the premises revealed that the money which had been left in the cash register overnight was gone. ⁵

On January 22, 1985, Pasternak was shown seven photographs, including an older one of Appellant. Police Commander Ronald B. Freeman testified that when Pasternak came to Appellant's picture she stated, " 'That looks like the guy' " or " 'could be the guy. I would know better if I saw him in person.' " (N.T. 9/8/92 at 189). Around May 8, 1985, Pasternak was again shown a photo array, including a recent color photograph of Appellant. Detective James Diskin testified that " 'when she came upon Mr. Santiago's photograph, she said she was positive this was the man she saw in the Minuteman Press on January 17 of 1985.' " (N.T. 9/8/92 at 157-158). Pasternak also identified Appellant in court during his trial as the man she had seen in Minuteman Press on the day Huber was murdered.

Finally, the Commonwealth introduced testimony from Appellant's first trial given by Dr. Robert Wettstein, a forensic psychiatrist who had been appointed to assist in the preparation of Appellant's insanity defense. ⁶ This former testimony established that Dr. Wettstein had four meetings with Appellant between 1985 and 1986. Although Appellant denied any involvement with Huber's murder during the first three meetings with Dr. Wettstein, Appellant did admit his participation during the final meeting. The following colloquy between Dr. Wettstein and the district attorney from Appellant's first trial was read into evidence:

Question: What did [Appellant] indicate happened on [January 17, 1985]?

Answer: He indicated to me that he had been hearing this voice and that the voice had instructed him with regard to killing the victim ...

Question: Was there anything else about the incident that he would confide in you?

Answer: Not on that day.

Question: He just said it's some man, a voice, a male voice talked to him and that's why he did the killing?

Answer: Yes.

(N.T. 9/8/92 at 247-248).

On the basis of the standard articulated above, we conclude that the evidence presented is sufficient to sustain Appellant's conviction for the first degree murder of Patrick Huber. We have also conducted the proportionality review required by 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(h)(3)(iii) and as explicated by this Court in Commonwealth v. Frey, 504 Pa. 428, 443-445, 475 A.2d 700, 707-709 (1984). Based upon our review of data from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, we find that the sentence of death imposed upon Appellant is neither excessive nor disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the circumstances of the crime and record of the defendant. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(h)(3)(iii); Frey, 504 Pa. at 443-445, 475 A.2d at 707-709.

Turning to the three issues raised herein, Appellant first contests the admission of Dr. Wettstein's psychiatric testimony from Appellant's first trial, where he pursued an insanity defense, into evidence at his second trial, where he did not pursue an insanity defense. Appellant asserts the admission of Dr. Wettstein's prior psychiatric testimony is barred by this Court's decision in Commonwealth v. Breakiron, 524 Pa. 282, 571 A.2d 1035 (1990).

In Breakiron, the defendant was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. In preparation for his defense, defendant underwent psychiatric evaluation to determine the viability of an insanity defense. Pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 305C(2)(a), the Commonwealth was permitted to discover the results of the evaluation. This rule provides, in pertinent part, as follows:

In all court cases, if the Commonwealth files a motion for pretrial discovery, the court may order the defendant, subject to the defendant's rights against compulsory self-incrimination, to allow the attorney for the Commonwealth to [discover] ... results or reports of physical or mental examinations .. which the defendant intends to introduce as evidence in chief, or which were prepared by a witness whom the defendant intends to call at the trial, when results or reports relate to the testimony of that witness....

Pa.R.Crim.P. 305C(2)(a). Following the...