Commonwealth of Pa. v. Spell

• Decision Date: 07 October 2011
• Citation: 28 A.3d 1274
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appelleev.Gaylord SPELL, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

28 A.3d 1274

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee

v.Gaylord SPELL, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Sept. 14, 2010.Decided Oct. 7, 2011.

Darrell W. Haeberle, Lawrence County Public Defender's Office, Dennis Anthony Elisco, New Castle, for Gaylord Spell.John J. Bongivengo, Lawrence County District Attorney's Office, New Castle, Amy Zapp, PA Office of Attorney General, William John Flannery, Harrisburg, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.BEFORE: CASTILLE, C.J., SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, TODD, McCAFFERY, ORIE MELVIN, JJ.

OPINION

Justice EAKIN.

This is a direct appeal from a death sentence imposed after a jury convicted appellant of first degree murder and abuse of a corpse.¹ We affirm the first degree murder conviction, but vacate appellant's sentence of death and remand to the trial court for imposition of a life sentence.

In the early morning hours of March 1, 2007, a custodian at the Lawrence County Career and Technical Center noticed a van traveling slowly through the school's parking lot. Later that morning, a teacher at the Center found a nude body lying sideways in the parking lot, and called the police. Investigators soon identified the victim and determined she was last seen alive on the evening of February 27. Around 3:00 p.m. on March 1, a PennDOT road crew alerted State Police after discovering clothing strewn along a roadway in Butler County. State Police recovered a bra, blue jeans, a sock, a flannel long-sleeve shirt, thermal bottoms, a black slipper, a sock covered in blood, a sweatshirt covered in blood, a blood-soaked pillow, a bloodstained cover for the arm of a couch, and a blood-covered tablecloth.

Dr. James Smith, a board certified forensic pathologist, performed an autopsy on the victim's body, which revealed ten lacerations on her head and face, including two on both her left and right temple, three on the back of her head, and three on her scalp. The victim suffered a fracture at the base of her skull, a laceration of her brain, and a fracture on the back of her skull. She also had two broken ribs and bruising on her head, face, lower back, and legs. Dr. Smith determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Because the lacerations looked identical, he opined she had been repeatedly struck with the same round object.

State Police found material under the victim's fingernails and seminal fluid on her body, which allowed them to produce a DNA profile. The profile was entered into the Combined DNA Index System, a nationwide database which includes DNA profiles of convicted felons; a database in Virginia matched the DNA profile to appellant. DNA testing further revealed the blood on the thermal bottoms and black slipper was the victim's, while blood from the tablecloth matched both the victim and appellant.

Appellant was interviewed by State Police; he denied meeting the victim or ever having her in his residence. State Police executed a search warrant of appellant's residence, and discovered a couch matching the arm cover recovered on the road. A sequin was found that matched the bra discovered along the roadway. Bloodstains were found on appellant's mattress and the floor between his bed and nightstand. State Police also executed a search warrant for appellant's van, and found the victim's blood on the driver-side door window.

Investigation revealed appellant was scheduled to work February 28, but called his employer to excuse himself; he returned to work March 1, at 2:47 p.m. The clothing, found around 3 p.m. that day, was on a route appellant could have used to get to his workplace.

Appellant was charged with criminal homicide and abuse of a corpse; a jury convicted him of first degree murder and abuse of a corpse. At the penalty phase, the jury found one aggravating circumstance: the murder was committed by means of torture. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(d)(8). The jury found no mitigating circumstances, and accordingly, appellant was sentenced to death. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(c)(1)(iv).

When a death sentence is imposed, “this Court has an obligation to review the record to ensure the evidence sufficiently supports the first degree murder conviction and the finding of aggravating circumstances, and that the sentence was not the product of passion, prejudice, or other arbitrary factors.” Commonwealth v. Dick, 602 Pa. 180, 978 A.2d 956, 958 (2009) (citing 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(h)(3)(i)-(ii)). Appellant raises four other issues in his appeal, which we have reordered for ease of discussion: whether there is sufficient evidence to support the aggravating circumstance of torture; whether the trial court inappropriately admitted two photographs of the victim's body; whether the Commonwealth's DNA expert improperly referred to appellant's prior bad acts; and whether appellant was entitled to a voluntary manslaughter jury instruction.

Sufficiency Review of First Degree Murder Conviction

When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence for first degree murder, we are “obliged to determine whether the evidence presented at trial and all reasonable inferences derived therefrom, viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as verdict winner, are sufficient to satisfy all elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.” Commonwealth v. Brown, 605 Pa. 103, 987 A.2d 699, 705 (2009) (citing Commonwealth v. Baumhammers, 599 Pa. 1, 960 A.2d 59, 68 (2008)). “To obtain a first-degree murder conviction, the Commonwealth must demonstrate that a human being was unlawfully killed, the defendant perpetrated the killing, and the defendant acted with malice and a specific intent to kill.” Commonwealth v. Montalvo, 604 Pa. 386, 986 A.2d 84, 92 (2009) (quoting Commonwealth v. Kennedy, 598 Pa. 621, 959 A.2d 916, 920 (2008)). An intentional killing is a “[k]illing by means of poison, or by lying in wait, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate and premeditated killing.” 18 Pa.C.S. § 2502(d). The Commonwealth may use solely circumstantial evidence to prove a killing was intentional, and the fact-finder “ ‘may infer that the defendant had the specific intent to kill the victim based on the defendants use of a deadly weapon upon a vital part of the victims body.’ ” Brown, 987 A.2d at 705 (quoting Commonwealth v. Blakeney, 596 Pa. 510, 946 A.2d 645, 651 (2008)).

We find the Commonwealth provided sufficient evidence to prove each element of first degree murder. Appellant called off work the day after the victim was last seen. The next morning, a van was seen driving slowly through the parking lot where, a short time later, the victim's body was found. The victim's blood was found in appellant's residence and his van. Appellant's DNA was found under the victim's fingernails and on her body. Clothes and other evidence containing the victim's blood were found along a route between appellant's residence and his place of employment, shortly after he appeared for work. The tablecloth found on the side of the road was stained with the victim's and appellant's blood.

Dr. Smith, who performed the autopsy on the victim's body, testified the victim suffered from ten lacerations to her head and face caused by a round blunt object. She suffered two broken ribs, multiple bruises, fractures at the base and back of her skull and a brain laceration, and died from blunt force head trauma. This evidence allowed the jury to find the victim was unlawfully killed, appellant killed her, and he acted with malice and a specific intent to kill.

Guilt Phase Claims

The trial court admitted two photographs of the victim's body lying in the parking lot where it was found. The court determined the photographs were not inflammatory because they did not accentuate the victim's injuries. Noting the photographs were taken from a distance, the court found they did not depict the victim's injuries in an unduly graphic or unfairly prejudicial manner. The court reasoned these photographs were relevant to the abuse of a corpse charge because they showed the body as it was discovered, showed the victim's injuries, and clarified witness testimony regarding the body and its location.

Appellant claims these photographs were inflammatory because they were in color and the victim's blood-covered body and face can be seen in one photograph. Appellant also contends the prejudicial effect of the photographs outweighed their probative value, as they were not useful to show the victim's injuries, and the Commonwealth did not offer any specific reason to introduce them. Appellant also alleges these photographs were merely cumulative as three witnesses testified to the condition and location of the victim's body.

The Commonwealth contends the photographs were not inflammatory because they were not close-ups of the victim's body and did not show any visible wounds. The Commonwealth argues the photographs were properly admitted, as they corroborated witness testimony regarding the condition of the victim's body and that appellant left the victim's body in the parking lot.

We will affirm a trial court's admission of photographs absent an abuse of discretion. Commonwealth v. Pruitt, 597 Pa. 307, 951 A.2d 307, 319 (2008) (citing Commonwealth v. Solano, 588 Pa. 716, 906 A.2d 1180, 1191 (2006)). Further,

When considering the admissibility of photographs of a homicide victim, which by their very nature can be unpleasant, disturbing, and even brutal, the trial court must engage in a two-step analysis:

First a [trial] court must determine whether the photograph is inflammatory. If not, it may be admitted if it has relevance and can assist the jury's understanding of the facts. If the photograph is inflammatory, the trial court must decide whether or not the photographs are of such essential evidentiary value that their need clearly outweighs the likelihood of inflaming the minds and passions of the jurors.

Id. (quoting Commonwealth v. Tharp, 574 Pa. 202, 830 A.2d 519, 531 (2003)).

While appellant claims the presence of blood in...