Com. v. Tilley

• Citation: 528 Pa. 125,595 A.2d 575
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. William B. TILLEY, Appellant.
• Decision Date: 10 October 1991
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 575

595 A.2d 575

528 Pa. 125

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. William B. TILLEY, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Dec. 3, 1990.

Decided July 18, 1991.

Reargument Denied Oct. 10, 1991.

[528 Pa. 131] Bernard L. Siegel, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Gaele McLaughlin Barthold, Deputy Dist. Atty., Ronald Eisenberg, Chief, Appeals Div., Donna Zucker, Philadelphia, Robert A. Graci, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., Harrisburg, for appellee.

Before NIX, C.J., and LARSEN, FLAHERTY, ZAPPALA, PAPADAKOS and CAPPY, JJ.

OPINION OF THE COURT

CAPPY, Justice.

This is an automatic direct appeal ¹ from a sentence of death imposed upon appellant, William B. Tilley by the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia, following his conviction of murder in the first degree. We affirm the judgment of sentence of death.

A jury found Tilley guilty of murder in the first degree, ² robbery, ³ burglary, ⁴ and possession of an instrument of crime. ⁵ A separate penalty hearing was held regarding the murder conviction. The jury found one aggravating circumstance and no mitigating circumstances, and fixed Tilley's penalty thereon at death. Sentencing was deferred pending the receipt of post-trial motions, which were subsequently filed, argued and denied. Tilley was sentenced to death ⁶ on the homicide charge, imprisonment of ten to twenty years on the robbery charge consecutive to the sentence of death, imprisonment of ten to twenty years on the burglary charge consecutive to the sentence of death and concurrent with the robbery sentence, and imprisonment of two and one-half to five years for possession of an instrument of crime consecutive to the sentence of death and the robbery and burglary sentences.

As in all cases where the death penalty has been imposed this Court must conduct an independent review of the sufficiency of the evidence without regard to whether the appellant has challenged the conviction on that ground. Commonwealth v. Zettlemoyer, 500 Pa. 16, 26-27 n. 3, 454 A.2d 937, 942 n. 3 (1982), cert. denied, 461 U.S. 970, 103 S.Ct. 2444, 77 L.Ed.2d 1327, reh'g denied, 463 U.S. 1236, 104 S.Ct. 31, 77 L.Ed.2d 1452 (1983). The test for establishing sufficiency is 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(s) beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Rhodes, 510 Pa. 537, 510 A.2d 1217 (1986). The following facts established by the evidence produced by the Commonwealth clearly satisfy this test.

Philadelphia Police Officer Robert Daiss spent the evening of July 27, 1985, at the home of his partner, Sergeant Steven Arch and his wife. At approximately 11:00 p.m. Officer Daiss returned to his home on Roosevelt Boulevard in the City of Philadelphia. Soon thereafter, Officer Daiss was shot to death in his basement. The Philadelphia Police discovered his body on July 30, 1985. A video cassette recorder, briefcase and service revolver were missing from Officer Daiss' residence.

During the ensuing investigation, the Philadelphia Police were notified that Tilley had been bragging about the murder of Officer Daiss to numerous friends and acquaintances. Kim Wolfson, one of the many friends to whom defendant had confessed his crime, told some of her co-workers at a bank about Tilley's admission of responsibility for the murder. A bank manager overheard this conversation and telephoned the Philadelphia Police.

On August 2, 1985, Tilley was arrested for the murder of Officer Daiss and given Miranda warnings. Tilley waived his Miranda rights and indicated that he would talk to the Philadelphia Police. Thereafter, he was interrogated by two Philadelphia Police Officers for approximately three and one-half hours during which time he also spoke with three witnesses to whom he had allegedly admitted responsibility for the murder of Officer Daiss. During this initial interrogation, he answered general questions but did not admit his involvement in the murder of Officer Daiss. Immediately thereafter, two other Philadelphia Police Officers commenced interrogation of Tilley. They advised him of his Miranda rights again, and after approximately ten minutes, Tilley gave a statement admitting that he had killed Officer Daiss. A motion to suppress this statement was subsequently denied by the trial court and is not a subject of this appeal.

At trial, Tilley testified that he had forcibly entered the home of Philadelphia police officer Robert Daiss with the intention of committing a burglary. Tilley stated that during the burglary Officer Daiss returned home and he fled to the basement with a .38 caliber service revolver that he had removed from Officer Daiss' bedroom. He was unable to exit the home through the basement so he hid behind a refrigerator. Officer Daiss then proceeded into the basement with his handgun drawn whereupon Tilley sprang from behind the refrigerator and shot Officer Daiss in the chest and in the jaw/neck. Thereafter, as Officer Daiss lay paralyzed and unable to speak, Tilley shot Officer Daiss in his left nostril to assure that he was dead. ⁷

Tilley also stated that after he killed Officer Daiss, he secured the keys to Officer Daiss' home in order to return later whereupon he took a video cassette recorder, and a briefcase containing seven gold rings, four bags of marijuana, photographs of persons involved in drug transactions, and cash. ⁸ Thereafter, the Philadelphia Police were able to confiscate the video cassette recorder and some of the rings that had been stolen from Officer Daiss' home. These items were obtained from people who stated that Tilley had given the items to them. Other witnesses testified that the remaining contents of Officer Daiss' briefcase were divided among several individuals in order to secure their silence concerning Tilley's commission of the murder of Officer Daiss. In addition, no less than six witnesses testified at trial that Tilley had confessed to them that he had killed Officer Daiss during the commission of the robbery/burglary. It is clear that this evidence was sufficient to sustain Tilley's convictions.

Through appellate counsel, Tilley asserts numerous contentions of trial error and ineffective assistance of counsel. ⁹ First, Tilley argues that he was denied his right to a speedy trial under the United States and Pennsylvania Constitutions and in violation of Pa.Crim.R.P. 1100 because his trial was not held until 695 days after his arrest. This argument is meritless.

In determining whether Tilley's constitutional right to a speedy trial has been violated his conduct and that of the Commonwealth must be balanced in light of: (1) The length of the delay; (2) the reasons for the delay; (3) Tilley's assertion of his right; and (4) the prejudice, if any, he has suffered. Barker v. Wingo, 407 U.S. 514, 92 S.Ct. 2182, 33 L.Ed.2d 101 (1972); Commonwealth v. Smith, 524 Pa. 72, 569 A.2d 337 (1990). The evidence presented at Tilley's Rule 1100 hearings clearly shows that the Commonwealth was prepared to proceed to trial at all times, and that Tilley caused virtually all of the trial delay through numerous continuances, unavailability of counsel, and changes in counsel. ¹⁰ The trial delay actually caused by the court was minimal, and the Commonwealth was clearly diligent in its efforts to bring Tilley to trial. Furthermore, Tilley did not request dismissal based upon this alleged speedy trial violation until nearly a year after the original run date.

Finally, Tilley's assertion that he was prejudiced by the delay in that Officer Daiss' shirt was not available for purposes of refuting the Medical Examiner's opinion that Officer Daiss suffered a hard contact wound is without merit. Tilley never requested the production of this shirt before or during trial, and his mere speculation that this shirt may now be unavailable cannot be used to bolster a speedy trial claim. Accordingly, the balancing plainly weighs with determinative heaviness against his claim. Thus, we reject Tilley's claimed violation of his right to a speedy trial under the United States and Pennsylvania Constitutions. Similarly, for the foregoing reasons and because Pa.R.Crim.P. 1100(c)(3) specifically provides that such delay caused by Tilley must be excluded from the computation of the period for commencement of trial, Tilley's rights under Pa.R.Crim.P. 1100 were not violated.

Second, Tilley argues that the trial court erred in denying his request for jury instructions on voluntary intoxication because there was sufficient evidence of record to support the defense of intoxication. This contention is meritless. In order for Tilley to have been entitled to a charge on voluntary intoxication there must have been evidence that he was "overwhelmed or overpowered by alcoholic liquor to the point of losing his ... faculties or sensibilities...." Commonwealth v. Reiff, 489 Pa. 12, 15, 413 A.2d 672, 674 (1980). While there was evidence that Tilley consumed some alcohol during the afternoon of July 27, 1985, and at some point appeared drunk to one of his friends, this is certainly not sufficient to support the conclusion that he was "overwhelmed or overpowered" to such an extent as to be incapable of forming the requisite specific intent to kill Officer Daiss. In fact, Tilley's testimony showed that he was thinking and acting coherently and methodically during the entire ordeal. Accordingly, as there was no basis for such an intoxication defense the trial court correctly chose not to provide the requested voluntary intoxication instructions.

Third, Tilley argues that the trial court erred in refusing to declare a mistrial after the prosecutor had raised the existence of prior criminal acts of Tilley. This contention is also meritless. Specifically, on re-direct examination of one of Tilley's friends, the prosecutor asked if she knew Tilley to...