Commonwealth v. Ballard
| Decision Date | 21 November 2013 |
| Citation | 80 A.3d 380 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Michael Eric BALLARD, Appellant. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Michael F. Corriere, Esq., Bethlehem, Office of the Public Defender, for Michael Eric Ballard.
Amy Zapp, Esq., Harrisburg, PA Office of Attorney General, John Michael Morganelli, Esq., for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
OPINION
We review the direct appeal of Michael Eric Ballard (“appellant”) from four sentences of death imposed on May 17, 2011, following appellant's plea of guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and the subsequent jury trial to determine his sentence, which was held before the Honorable Edward G. Smith of the Northampton County Court of Common Pleas. Appellant raises claims of trial court error regarding aspects of his penalty phase hearing, a constitutional challenge to the admissibility of victim impact testimony, and challenges to the jury's weighing of statutory aggravating and mitigating circumstances. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the conviction and judgment of sentence.
In 1992, appellant pled guilty to an unrelated third-degree murder and was sentenced to a minimum of fifteen years in prison. Appellant was released on parole in 2007 and met Denise Merhi, an assistant in the medical office in which he was receiving a physical examination for employment. The two began dating and briefly lived together at Merhi's residence in Northampton Borough, Pennsylvania. Merhi lived with her father, Dennis Marsh, her grandfather, Alvin Marsh, and her daughter and son (roughly 8 and 12 years old, respectively). Appellant was re-incarcerated for violating his parole and released again in April 2010. As a term of his release, appellant was required to live at the Allentown Community Corrections Center. He and Merhi resumed their relationship, though appellant came to believe that Merhi was dating other men.
On June 23, 2010, Merhi and her friend, Debbie Hawkey, took Merhi's daughter and Hawkey's two young children to Seaside Heights, New Jersey, to celebrate Merhi's daughter's birthday. During their time away, appellant repeatedly called Merhi's cell phone, but she ignored his calls. The group returned from the beach on June 25, 2010, and Hawkey lent Merhi her van because Merhi's car was under repair. That evening appellant was still not receiving any response from Merhi. Appellant then phoned Merhi's friend, Marilyn Rivera, to inquire as to Merhi's whereabouts. Appellant appeared agitated, and asked Rivera if Merhi was romantically involved with other men. Rivera told appellant that Merhi was seeing another man named Peter Hoff. Appellant became upset and told Rivera that he loved Merhi so much that he could not let her go, that he felt anger like he had never felt before, and that he “did not know how to handle it.” N.T., 5/10/11, at 112.
The next morning, June 26, 2010, appellant again made several attempts to call Merhi from the correction center payphones. Just before noon, appellant left the center wearing a light blue shirt with a Superman emblem on the front and carrying a green canvas knapsack and a radio. Appellant visited two different pawn shops and unsuccessfully attempted to trade in his radio for credit toward the purchase of a knife. At the second location, appellant purchased a Muela Ruko knife. Appellant caught a city bus to Northampton Borough and, once there, entered a bar and ordered a drink. About twenty minutes later, neighbors observed appellant walk slowly up an alley near Merhi's residence and peer around the corner of a garage in order to view Merhi's home. Appellant proceeded to a liquor store, purchased a bottle of vodka, and called Merhi's cell phone twice from a gas station payphone. During the phone calls, appellant confronted Merhi about Peter Hoff, and Merhi responded that Hoff was merely a friend.
At approximately 4:45 p.m., Hawkey arrived at Merhi's house to retrieve her van. Failing to find her keys in Merhi's mailbox, Hawkey entered the front door of the home, which was unlocked. Hawkey found her keys on the dining room table and laid her purse down. She could hear noises from the kitchen, and when Hawkey entered the kitchen to see if anyone was home, she found Merhi lying on the floor in a pool of blood and heard rustling noises coming from the rear of the house. Hawkey ran from the house and to the porch of Merhi's nearby neighbors, Steven and Janet Zernhelt. After Hawkey told them what she had seen, Mr. Zernhelt ran into Merhi's house while Hawkey and Janet called 911.
At the same time, another neighbor saw appellant exit onto Merhi's front porch shirtless and covered in blood.2 Appellant left Merhi's residence in Merhi's Pontiac Grand Prix before the police arrived. Shortly thereafter, appellant crashed the car into several trees off the side of a nearby highway. Corporal Mark Rowlandsof the Pennsylvania State Police observed the crash and approached the vehicle. Cpl. Rowlands noticed that appellant was unconscious and covered in blood. As appellant began to regain consciousness, Cpl. Rowlands asked appellant for his name and where he was coming from. Appellant replied, “I just killed everyone.” N.T., 5/9/11, at 175. Cpl. Rowlands, who at the time had no knowledge of the homicides that had occurred in Northampton Borough, asked appellant what he meant, and appellant responded, “Isn't it obvious I just killed everyone.” Id. at 176.
Eventually, Emergency Medical Services workers arrived at the scene of the accident and transported appellant to the hospital for treatment of his injuries.3 At the hospital, appellant made several statements to hospital personnel that he had killed his girlfriend, “her family, and the neighbor who came over later.” Id. at 247. As police were photographing appellant's injuries, appellant also stated, Id. at 246.4
In response to the 911 call, State Trooper Raymond Judge and Coroner Zachary Lysek entered Merhi's residence and found the bodies of Mr. Zernhelt, Merhi, and Merhi's grandfather, Alvin Marsh. Merhi's body was located on the floor in the kitchen; Zernhelt was found on the floor of the living room; and Alvin Marsh, who was deaf and partially blind, was found in his wheelchair in front of the television in his bedroom. Each area was “heavily saturated with blood,” and there were signs of an “extensive struggle.” Id. at 73. Each victim had suffered from “multiple sharp force injuries.” N.P., 4/20/11, at 19–20. Trooper Judge and Coroner Lysek later re-entered the home after becoming concerned that Merhi's children might be somewhere in the house, at which point they found the body of Dennis Marsh, Merhi's father, in the basement. Dennis likewise had been stabbed to death, suffering from multiple wounds. Id. The police located additional evidence in the basement, finding: (1) the words “Denise is a Whore” written on the wall in what was later determined to be appellant's own blood; (2) a light-blue t-shirt bearing the Superman logo; and (3) a green canvas duffle bag containing some of appellant's personal belongings. The police also found a white cotton sleeveless undershirt in the first floor bathroom.5 During a search of Merhi's Grand Prix, police recovered the Muelo Ruko knife and a butcher knife that police believed came from Merhi's home. Both knives contained DNA evidence of appellant and Zernhelt.
On June 27, 2010, appellant was charged with four counts of criminal homicide,6 and on April 20, 2011, appellant pled guilty to four counts of first-degree murder.7 On May 17, 2011, after a penalty phase hearing, the jury returned a sentence of death on each of the four counts. Regarding the murder of Merhi, the jury found two aggravators, 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(d)(10) () and 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(d)(11) (previous murder conviction), and one mitigator, 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(e)(2) (). Regarding the murder of Dennis Marsh, the jury found one aggravator ( § 9711(d)(10)) and no mitigators. Finally, regarding the murders of Alvin Marsh and Zernhelt, the jury found two aggravators ( § 9711(d)(10), (11)) and no mitigators as to each victim.
Appellant did not file post-sentence motions, but he filed a direct appeal to this Court on June 14, 2011. Upon the order of the trial court, appellant filed a concise statement of matters complained of on appeal pursuant to Pennsylvania Rule of Appellate Procedure 1925(b) on June 29, 2011. On December 14, 2011, the trial court issued its Rule 1925(a) Opinion.8
On appeal, appellant presents thirteen penalty phase questions for review; we summarize appellant's issues as follows: 9
(1) Whether the trial court erred in permitting the introduction of several autopsy and crime scene photographs.
(2) Whether the trial court erred in allowing the Commonwealth to cross-examine the following mitigation witnesses:
(a) Dr. Ruben Gur, regarding an MRI report the Commonwealth did not receive until the morning of his testimony, his personal beliefs about the death penalty, his testimony in eleven prior state and federal cases, and the exclusion of his testimony in United States v. Montgomery;
(b) Penny Sines, regarding her opinion whether appellant was a low risk to reoffend, and about the parole board's decision to grant appellant parole in 2007;
(c) Dr. Richard Fruncillo, about alcohol not preventing appellant from forming the specific intent to kill, and about appellant's 1991 homicide and prison misconduct history; and
(d) Dr. Gerald Cooke, regarding a letter appellant wrote to his mitigation specialist, and a diagram appellant drew of the crime scene.
(3) Whether the trial court erred in allowing the Commonwealth to...
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