Com. v. Williams

• Decision Date: 09 October 1992
• Citation: 615 A.2d 716,532 Pa. 265
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Craig WILLIAMS, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 716

615 A.2d 716

532 Pa. 265

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Craig WILLIAMS, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued April 6, 1992.

Decided Oct. 9, 1992.

[532 Pa. 271] Norris E. Gelman, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Ronald Eisenberg, Deputy Dist. Atty., Catherine Marshall, Chief, Appeals Div., Hugh Burns, Philadelphia, Robert A. Graci, Chief Deputy Atty. Gen., for appellee.

Before NIX, C.J., and FLAHERTY, McDERMOTT, 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, Craig Williams, by the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, following his conviction of murder of the first degree. We affirm the judgment of sentence of death.

A jury found appellant guilty of murder of the first degree, ² recklessly endangering another person, ³ and possessing instruments of crime. ⁴ A separate penalty hearing was held regarding the murder conviction. The jury found one aggravating circumstance and no mitigating circumstances, and fixed appellant's penalty at death. Sentence of death was immediately imposed on the homicide count, ⁵ and sentencing on the remaining counts was deferred pending the receipt of post-trial motions, which were subsequently filed, argued and denied. Thereafter, appellant was sentenced to imprisonment of one to two years on the reckless endangerment count, and imprisonment of two and one-half to five years for possessing an instrument of crime, both to be served concurrently with the sentence for murder.

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.

On April 3, 1987 Gordon Russell was 57 years old and resided above a bar that he owned and tended in the vicinity of North Lambert and Norris Streets in Philadelphia. At approximately 5:30 p.m. on this day Gordon Russell was walking south on North Lambert Street towards Norris Street on his way home from a store located on Diamond Street. As Gordon Russell crossed North Lambert Street, the appellant came running down North Lambert Street from behind Gordon Russell and began shooting a .38 calibre revolver at Erica Riggins who had stopped her blue Cadillac in the middle of North Lambert Street just south of Gordon Russell. Gordon Russell suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the back as he passed between appellant and the blue Cadillac. Immediately after Gordon Russell was shot, Erica Riggins fled the scene in her Cadillac with the appellant in pursuit on foot. A warrant was issued for appellant's arrest on April 12, 1987. After appellant could not be located, this matter was assigned to the Philadelphia Police Fugitive Squad, which arrested him on April 24, 1987 in a different neighborhood.

The Commonwealth presented the testimony of Kevin Harrell, who stated that appellant was at the scene on North Lambert Street and was holding a gun as he moved south towards Gordon Russell, Erica Riggins and the blue Cadillac. Kevin Harrell further testified that after he heard gunshots he saw Gordon Russell fall to the ground to the right of the blue Cadillac and in front of and to the right of appellant. Kevin Harrell noticed no gunshots being fired by the occupants of the blue Cadillac.

The Commonwealth also presented the testimony of Catherine Rivers, who stated that she watched the homicide take place while she was looking out a second floor window of her residence in search of her children who had gone to the store. Catherine Rivers stated that a young boy had come running around the corner shooting at a blue car parked in the street. Catherine Rivers further testified that no gunshots were fired by the occupants of the blue car and that Gordon Russell had crumpled over a vehicle adjacent to the blue car when the shots were fired. While Catherine Rivers did not see the face of the shooter, appellant matched the physical description that she gave to the police.

The testimony of these two Commonwealth witnesses, and that of police officers, detectives and the medical examiner is consistent with the physical evidence, which indicates that Gordon Russell was struck in the back by a projectile fired by someone who was to his left and slightly behind him. Furthermore, the jury could infer motive for this shooting from the evidence presented, as Erica Riggins had harassed and severely injured appellant's girlfriend, Jean Hargrove, two days before the murder. Jean Hargrove was seven months pregnant with appellant's child at that time.

The appellant did not testify on his behalf, but presented four witnesses who claimed to have been eyewitnesses to the shooting. These witnesses all testified that Erica Riggins had fired several shots at appellant and had killed Gordon Russell. However, these witnesses each described different scenarios for the shooting, none of them saw appellant with a gun, and none of them came forward with information regarding the shooting until less than a week before trial. Clearly, it was up to the jury to evaluate the credibility of these witnesses and determine whether to believe all, part, or none of their testimony. Commonwealth v. Edwards, 521 Pa. 134, 555 A.2d 818 (1989). The jury chose not to believe their testimony. Accordingly, we find that the evidence presented by the Commonwealth was sufficient to sustain appellant's convictions.

Through appellate counsel, appellant asserts nine claims of ineffective assistance of trial counsel. ⁶ In order for appellant to prevail on a claim of ineffectiveness he must demonstrate that: (1) the underlying claim is of arguable merit; (2) the particular course chosen by counsel did not have some reasonable basis designed to effectuate his interests; and (3) counsel's ineffectiveness prejudiced him. Commonwealth v. Pierce, 515 Pa. 153, 527 A.2d 973 (1987). Furthermore, counsel can never be found ineffective for having elected not to raise a meritless claim. Commonwealth v Pettus, 492 Pa. 558, 424 A.2d 1332 (1981); Commonwealth v. Giknes, 491 Pa. 215, 420 A.2d 419 (1980).

GUILT PHASE

First, appellant claims that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to a portion of the prosecutor's closing argument, which he claims "asked the jury to infer guilt from his failure to prove his innocence or the disbelief of his defense." Specifically, the prosecutor stated:

The integrity of this system of justice, ladies and gentlemen, is that people are to be tested on their credibility and that not only goes to the credibility of the Commonwealth witnesses but also to the credibility of defense witnesses. It is true the defense has no obligation to present person one to the courtroom but once he does that, ladies and gentlemen, and you are to find out one single witness that he brings here perjured himself and suborned that perjury by presenting it, you may find, ladies and gentlemen, evidence of his guilt even if you had some previous reasonable doubt with regard to the Commonwealth's case.

(N.T. 420).

While appellant is correct to the extent that there is no rule of law that invites a jury to infer guilt from the failure of a defendant to establish his innocence or from the fact that a jury disbelieves his defense, Commonwealth v. Pounds, 490 Pa. 621, 633, 417 A.2d 597 (1980), his reliance thereon is misplaced in this case. Here, the prosecutor was not commenting on his failure to prove his defense, but rather, on the manner in which he sought to prove his defense. It is axiomatic that actions taken to mislead and to conceal guilt may be treated as circumstantial evidence of consciousness of guilt. Commonwealth v. Dollman, 518 Pa. 86, 541 A.2d 319 (1988). The jury is obviously permitted to find evidence of guilt should they determine that appellant's defense (Erica Riggins did the shooting) was fabricated, presented through false testimony at trial and that appellant himself suborned that perjury. Such a finding by the jury would support the usual broad inference from any fraud. Wigmore, Evidence, § 279 at 141 (Chadbourn Rev., 1979). Accordingly, trial counsel cannot be found ineffective for not objecting on this basis. Commonwealth v. Pierce, 515 Pa. 153, 527 A.2d 973 (1987); Commonwealth v. Pettus, 492 Pa. 558, 424 A.2d 1332 (1981); Commonwealth v. Giknes, 491 Pa. 215, 420 A.2d 419 (1980).

Second, appellant claims that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the prosecutor's alleged reference during summation to appellant's post-arrest silence and silence at trial. Specifically, the prosecutor stated:

Now, ladies and gentlemen, if this defendant was indeed the purported victim of this shooting incident, what does he have to hide? I mean all he has to do is say this gal was shooting at me, you know. He didn't have to run away from his home. He can just stay right there. He doesn't necessarily have to say anything at all if he chooses not to but he certainly doesn't have to run and hide and that is why the law says that consciousness of guilt may be inferred from the flight of the defendant from his usual whereabouts. That has been substantially proven here and you may consider that in determining the guilt of the...