Commonwealth v. Chavis

• Decision Date: 26 May 1947
• Citation: 357 Pa. 158,53 A.2d 96
• Parties: Commonwealth v. Chavis, Appellant
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

53 A.2d 96

357 Pa. 158

Commonwealth v. Chavis, Appellant

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

May 26, 1947

Argued April 14, 1947

Appeal, No. 64, Jan. T., 1947, from judgment of O. & T. and Q.S., Phila. Co., June Sessions, 1946, No. 326, in case of Commonwealth v. William Chavis alias Wilburn Chambers. Judgment affirmed; reargument refused June 30, 1947.

Indictment charging defendant with murder. Before KUN, J.

Verdict of guilty and judgment of death sentence thereon. Defendant appealed.

Judgment is affirmed; the record is remitted to the court below so that the sentence imposed may be carried out.

David B. Asbury , with him Leroy Humbert , for appellant.

Colbert C. McClain , Assistant District Attorney, with him John H. Maurer , District Attorney, for appellee.

Before MAXEY, C.J., DREW, LINN, STERN, PATTERSON, STEARNE and JONES JJ.

OPINION

MR. CHIEF JUSTICE MAXEY

This is an appeal from the judgment of guilty of murder in the first degree with the death penalty imposed. Some time between 12:08 A.M. and 12:24 A.M. on May 11, 1946, Francis K. Erhard, aged 24 years, was assaulted and robbed on Morris Street, near Chelten Avenue, Philadelphia. He reached his home, about 330 feet away, and said to his aunt, "a terrific force his me from behind, and they got my wallet". He was taken to the Germantown Hospital, where he died at 7:30 A.M., May 11th. The police found at the place of the assault a pool of blood and an iron pipe 18 inches long, wrapped in white paper. They also found a trail of blood from the place of the assault to the deceased's home. On June 10th, William Chavis, an ex-convict, aged 21 years, was arrested for this crime. On the day after his arrest, he confessed the crime, first verbally and then in writing. When this case was tried he repudiated the confession and claimed he was at his home, 66 E. Sharpnack St., at the time the crime was committed. He declared that the confession was secured from him by violence at the hands of Lieutenant Kelly and Detective Arthur. After he was found guilty and sentenced and a new trial was refused, he took this appeal.

Detective Harry J. Morris testified in respect to the confession of the defendant. He said that Detective Arthur and he arrested the defendant, who was asleep in the rear of Dykes Bowling Alley, on June 10th. When Detectives Morris and Arthur questioned Chavis on June 11th, they asked him about his work and his living conditions and also asked him where he was on May 10th. He replied: "I realize now why you are questioning me. You are questioning me on account of that student that was hit over the head and robbed in Germantown." He then said that he was home on May 10th listening to a ball game and to a fight on the radio; that his aunt with whom he lived, Mrs. Lilly Davies, was attending a recital by Marian Anderson at the Academy of Music. The detectives learned that Marian Anderson did not sing in Philadelphia on that night. After further questioning Chavis admitted that he had lied about his work and his living conditions. The detectives then confronted him with a memorandum which they had found in his room. On this he had made notations showing the times at which he (a paroled convict) arrived home on different nights. He said he kept up these notations until 11:30 P.M., May 9th. When asked why he had made no notations after May 9th, he replied he "just forgot." When asked why he did not make these notations on May 10th, he hesitated and began to cry. When he ceased crying, he asked: "How much time will I get out of this?" The detectives answered they "couldn't tell him anything about time." Chavis then said that on May 7th he went into Richman's junk yard and obtained a piece of pipe about 18 inches long. He brought it to his home, took it to his room, and put it in a bureau drawer. When asked why he got the pipe, he said "he intended to rob a person, to strike someone and rob him with that piece of pipe", that he "had thought about it for several days, that he had been out of work and he needed money." On the following day he went to the rear kitchen of his home and obtained a piece of wrapping paper and wrapped it around the pipe. He took the pipe thus wrapped back to his room and kept it there until May 10th. He said that on that night he took the pipe, stuck it down his pants' leg and went out on the street intending to find a victim to rob. He went to the movies on German-town Avenue and attended the last show. After that he went "west on Chelten Avenue and out Pulaski Avenue." He saw a man who appeared to be well dressed, and "thought that anyone coming out of a railroad station would have money." He followed him on the south side of Chelten Avenue, to the corner of a small street. Then "this young man crossed the street coming toward him on his side of the street, and at the corner there was a building with a brick wall." He followed the man around the corner "and 'took the iron pipe' from his pants' leg" went up behind him and, as he told the story: "I struck the man with a glancing blow at first. I hit him on the side of the skull and stunned him at first. He turned to say something and I hit him again with a full blow on the side of the head around the temple. He dropped to the ground and laid there. I went through his pockets and found his wallet. I took the wallet and started to run away from the scene." Chavis then looked back and saw the man "struggling in the street, or rather, struggling on the sidewalk in the opposite direction from which he was running." However, when he got several blocks away, Chavis took out of the stolen wallet "a ten-dollar bill, two five-dollar bills, and some one-dollar bills." He then threw the wallet away and continued through various streets to his home, which he reached at about 2 A.M. Chavis then took the detectives to the scene of the crime. They also went to the home where Chavis resided with his aunt at the time of the homicide, and his statement was taken stenographically. Its transcription was signed by him. The detectives testified that all the defendant's statements were made voluntarily and without duress of any kind.

When shown a photograph of the victim, Chavis said: "This looks like the man that I hit on the head and robbed." When shown the galvanized iron pipe, 17 inches long, three-quarters of an inch in diameter, weighing one pound and eleven ounces, with a half ground joint union at one end, which was found at the scene of the crime, Chavis said: "That's the piece of pipe I had when I hit the fellow." When shown a piece of cream colored wrapping paper he said "It looks like the paper that was wrapped around the pipe." When shown the victim's wallet, he said: "It looks like the wallet I took out of the man's pocket when I attacked him and threw away." When asked: "Is there anything else you want to add to this Statement that you have made?", he replied: "The only thing, I am sorry I committed the crime." When Chavis was at the scene of the crime with the detectives he pointed out the spot where he attacked his victim, indicating a point on the east side of Morris Street about 35 feet south of Chelten Avenue and he described the fatal blows.

Chavis testified that on the night of May 10th he was at his aunt's home in Germantown listening to the radio report of a baseball game which lasted "until about one o'clock,... It went 15 innings." He also "listened to a fight over the radio." He said "I went to bed after the baseball game was off. That would be after one o'clock." He told of his arrest in June by the detectives and his questioning, as follows: "Lientenant Kelly came in he got up and kicked me right on the shins," and as he went by Kelly said, "Excuse me." The detective said: "Now, if you come clean with us, we will see that you get a fair break." About 1:30 in the afternoon, Detectives Morris and Arthur asked him further questions, and the former said: "Well, you have had enough time to think it over. You might as well come clean. We know where you were on May 10th. Now you tell us." He answered: "I really don't know." Detective Arthur said: "I am going to hit you with that chair and get you up in that corner and bang your head on it, if you don't come clean with us.... Don't you know anything about a man getting clubbed up on Chelten Avenue?" Chavis said he "couldn't figure it out." Morris asked: "Don't you remember reading something in the paper about a fellow getting clubbed up on Chelten Avenue?" Chavis replied: "Yes, I remember reading something in the paper about a fellow getting clubbed up on Chelten Avenue." He was then showed the slip on which he had recorded each night the time of his arrival home and Chavis responded: "I had come in early that night and I went and turned the radio on and listened to the baseball game, and I said I would put it down the next day, which I did, and I forgot it." He said: "I got nervous and I was scared, because I was scared of what they were going to do to me, and I acknowledged... That I had hit this man." He testified: "They had me down in Lieutenant Kelly's office and said, 'If you come along with us, everything will be all right. You will get a decent trial and an even break,' and I said, 'Yes, sir.' They said, 'You come along with us,' and I said, 'If I go along with you all, you will see that I get a fair trial?' and they said, 'Yes,' and I told them, 'I didn't do it.'" The detectives then took him "out on this tour." When they got in front of Richman's, they said: "Point out the place about where you got this pipe in Richman's." He was then asked by his attorney: "Had you gotten the pipe from that place?" "A. No, sir, I hand't. Q. Did you get a pipe from any place? A. No, sir, I didn't." He admitted that he told the...