Com. v. Shoup

• Decision Date: 08 February 1993
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Joseph C. SHOUP, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 15

620 A.2d 15

423 Pa.Super. 12

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Joseph C. SHOUP, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted Sept. 11, 1992.

Filed Feb. 8, 1993.

David J. Rossi, Schuylkill Haven, for appellant.

Karen Byrnes, Asst. Dist. Atty., Pottsville, for Com., appellee.

Before ROWLEY, President Judge, and WIEAND and HUDOCK, JJ.

WIEAND, Judge.

Joseph C. Shoup was tried by jury and was found guilty of homicide by vehicle while driving under the influence of alcohol, ¹ driving while under the influence of alcohol, ² and homicide by vehicle. ³ The trial court, sitting as fact finder, found Shoup guilty also of the summary offense of reckless driving. ⁴ Post-trial motions were denied, and Shoup was sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment for not less than three and one-half (3 1/2) years nor more than seven (7) years and to pay a fine in the amount of one thousand ($1,000.00) dollars. ⁵ On direct appeal from the judgment of sentence, Shoup asserts that the evidence at his trial was insufficient to sustain his convictions. He contends further that the trial court committed reversible error in the following respects: (1) by granting a Commonwealth motion in limine to preclude the admission of evidence that the decedent was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the fatal accident; (2) by refusing to give points for charge requested by the defense on the issue of causation; and (3) by improperly permitting testimony as to the results of blood alcohol testing conducted upon appellant's blood despite the absence from trial of the person who actually performed such tests. We will consider these several issues seriatim.

In evaluating a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, which has won the verdict, and draw all reasonable inferences in its favor. We then determine whether the evidence is sufficient to permit a jury to determine that each and every element of the crimes charged has been established beyond a reasonable doubt. See: Commonwealth v. Aulisio, 514 Pa. 84, 91, 522 A.2d 1075, 1079 (1987). See also: Commonwealth v. Smith, 523 Pa. 577, 581, 568 A.2d 600, 602 (1989); Commonwealth v. Hardcastle, 519 Pa. 236, 246, 546 A.2d 1101, 1105 (1988), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 1093, 110 S.Ct. 1169, 107 L.Ed.2d 1072 (1990). It is the function of the jury to pass upon the credibility of the witnesses and to determine the weight to be accorded the evidence produced. The jury is free to believe all, part or none of the evidence introduced at trial. See: Commonwealth v. Guest, 500 Pa. 393, 396, 456 A.2d 1345, 1347 (1983). See also: Commonwealth v. Rose, 463 Pa. 264, 268, 344 A.2d 824, 826 (1975); Commonwealth v. Verdekal, 351 Pa.Super. 412, 419-420, 506 A.2d 415, 419 (1986). The facts and circumstances established by the Commonwealth "need not be absolutely incompatible with [the] defendant's innocence, but the question of any doubt is for the jury unless the evidence 'be so weak and inconclusive that as a matter of law no probability of fact can be drawn from the combined circumstances.' " Commonwealth v. Sullivan, 472 Pa. 129, 150, 371 A.2d 468, 478 (1977), quoting Commonwealth v. Libonati, 346 Pa. 504, 508, 31 A.2d 95, 97 (1943). See also: Commonwealth v. Kravitz, 400 Pa. 198, 215, 161 A.2d 861, 869 (1960), cert. denied, 365 U.S. 846, 81 S.Ct. 807, 5 L.Ed.2d 811 (1961).

So viewed, the evidence at appellant's trial established the following. On November 14, 1989, at or about 8:00 p.m., appellant was operating a brown Chevrolet Chevette automobile on Oak Street, a narrow alleyway located in the Borough of Girardville, Schuylkill County. Riding as passengers in appellant's vehicle were Michelle Shoup, his common law wife, who was seated in the front passenger seat, and Jean Moll and John Rush, who were in the back seat. Appellant was observed failing to stop for three consecutive stop signs, and the speed of his vehicle was estimated to be approximately fifty to fifty-five miles per hour. After driving through the intersection of Oak and Williams Streets, without stopping at the stop sign there erected for the control of traffic, appellant's vehicle collided with a large dump truck which had been parked in the alleyway, near a loading dock at a garment factory. The site of the accident was about thirty to thirty-five feet from the intersection.

Upon being summoned to the scene of the accident, Charles Harris, the Police Chief for the Borough of Girardville, observed that appellant had a strong odor of alcohol about his person and that there were several beer cans on the floor of the vehicle. All of the vehicle's occupants were initially pinned therein, and they, upon being removed from the vehicle, were transported for medical treatment. Appellant's common law wife suffered massive traumatic injuries and died shortly after being taken by helicopter to Geisinger Medical Center. Appellant was taken to Ashland State Hospital, where, at 9:30 p.m., blood samples were drawn at the request of Chief Harris for the purpose of determining appellant's blood alcohol level. Thereafter, two blood tests measured appellant's blood alcohol content at .176% and .175%.

At trial, the defense contended that the legal cause of Michelle Shoup's death had been the illegal parking of the dump truck with which appellant's vehicle collided. Police Chief Harris testified that there had been a no parking sign posted at the loading dock where the dump truck was parked. However, according to Chief Harris, this sign had been placed there by the garment factory and not by the Borough. Therefore, he suggested, he was without legal authority to issue tickets for illegal parking at that location. Other testimony established that, despite poor lighting conditions, the dump truck could be seen from the intersection at Oak and Williams Streets. Additionally, both Jean Moll and John Rush described appellant's driving prior to the accident as erratic.

Causation is an essential element of a charge of criminal homicide, which the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Webb, 449 Pa. 490, 494, 296 A.2d 734, 737 (1972). See also: Commonwealth v. Kingsley, 480 Pa. 560, 569-570, 391 A.2d 1027, 1032 (1978); Commonwealth v. Cheatham, 419 Pa.Super. 603, 607, 615 A.2d 802, 805 (1992). The tort concept of proximate cause plays no role in a prosecution for criminal homicide. Rather, the Commonwealth must prove a more direct causal relationship between the defendant's conduct and the victim's death. Commonwealth v. Barnhart, 345 Pa.Super. 10, 28, 497 A.2d 616, 626 (1985), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 817, 109 S.Ct. 55, 102 L.Ed.2d 34 (1988). See also: Commonwealth v. Root, 403 Pa. 571, 170 A.2d 310 (1961); Commonwealth v. Lang, 285 Pa.Super. 34, 426 A.2d 691 (1981). However,

it has never been the law of this Commonwealth that criminal responsibility must be confined to a sole or immediate cause of death. Commonwealth v. Stafford, 451 Pa. 95, 301 A.2d 600 (1973); Commonwealth v. Carn, 449 Pa. 228, 296 A.2d 753 (1972); Commonwealth v. Johnson, 445 Pa. 276, 284 A.2d 734 (1971); Commonwealth v. Cheeks, 423 Pa. 67, 223 A.2d 291 (1966); Commonwealth ex rel. Peters v. Maroney, 415 Pa. 553, 204 A.2d 459 (1964). Criminal responsibility is properly assessed against one whose conduct was a direct and substantial factor in producing the death even though other factors combined with that conduct to achieve the result. Commonwealth v. Stafford, supra.

Commonwealth v. Skufca, 457 Pa. 124, 132-133, 321 A.2d 889, 894 (1974), appeal dismissed, 419 U.S. 1028, 95 S.Ct. 510, 42 L.Ed.2d 304 (1974). See also: Commonwealth v. Rementer, 410 Pa.Super. 9, 19-24, 598 A.2d 1300, 1305-1307 (1991); Commonwealth v. Youngkin, 285 Pa.Super. 417, 424-425, 427 A.2d 1356, 1359-1360 (1981); Commonwealth v. Howard, 265 Pa.Super. 535, 539-540, 402 A.2d 674, 676-677 (1979). Thus, "[a] defendant cannot escape the natural consequences of his act merely because of foreseeable complications." Commonwealth v. Paquette, 451 Pa. 250, 254, 301 A.2d 837, 839 (1973). So long as the defendant's conduct started the chain of causation which led to the victim's death, criminal responsibility for the crime of homicide may properly be found. See: Commonwealth v. Hicks, 466 Pa. 499, 505, 353 A.2d 803, 805 (1976). See also: Commonwealth v. Massart, 469 Pa. 572, 577, 366 A.2d 1229, 1232 (1975); Commonwealth v. Stafford, 451 Pa. 95, 100, 301 A.2d 600, 604 (1973); Commonwealth v. Cheeks, 423 Pa. 67, 73, 223 A.2d 291, 294 (1966).

In the instant case, a jury could find that appellant's conduct was a direct and substantial factor in bringing about the death of Michelle Shoup. The evidence disclosed that, while intoxicated, appellant drove his vehicle down a narrow, dimly lit alleyway, erratically and at a high rate of speed, failing to stop at three consecutive intersections where stop signs had been posted. Moreover, the evidence suggested that had appellant obeyed the stop sign at the intersection of Oak and Williams Streets, he would have been able to observe the dump truck parked in the alleyway. While the fact that the dump truck was parked in the alleyway undoubtedly contributed to the accident, it is abundantly clear that it was appellant's conduct which started an unbroken chain of causation leading to his wife's death. That another vehicle may have been parked in a hazardous manner was a foreseeable circumstance which did not relieve appellant from the natural consequences of his conduct. See: Commonwealth v. Skufca, supra; Commonwealth v. Rementer, supra.

Appellant also contends that there was insufficient evidence to establish that, at the time of the accident, the amount of alcohol by weight in his blood was .10% or greater. Specifically, he argues that his blood samples were taken an hour and a half after the accident and the Commonwealth failed to present evidence which related the results of...