Commonwealth v. Contakos
Decision Date | 04 February 1981 |
Citation | 492 Pa. 465,424 A.2d 1284 |
Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, v. Samuel C. CONTAKOS, Appellant. |
Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Argued Sept. 26, 1980.
Dennis J. Clark, Pittsburgh, for appellant.
Gerald R. Solomon, Dist. Atty., Samuel Davis, Asst. Dist. Atty Uniontown, for appellee.
Before O'BRIEN, C. J., ROBERTS, NIX, LARSEN, FLAHERTY and KAUFFMAN, JJ.
Appellant Samuel C. Contakos, was convicted by a jury of murder of the first degree and criminal conspiracy. Post-verdict motions were denied and appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder conviction and a consecutive prison term of five-to-ten years for the conspiracy conviction. This direct appeal followed. We vacate judgment of sentence and remand the case to the trial court for proceedings consistent with this Opinion.
The facts are as follows. The principal Commonwealth witness at trial was Thomas Harry Colvin, who had previously pled guilty to killing the victim in the instant case, Charles Jacob Lowry. Colvin testified that he and appellant had agreed with two other individuals to kill Lowry for $1,500 each. Colvin stated that he and appellant had, on October 3, 1977 traveled to Johnstown but were unable to find Lowry. They made the same trip three days later and upon locating the victim, the pair shot and killed him. Colvin testified that he had used a .25 caliber gun while appellant had used a .357 magnum. While there were no other eyewitnesses to the shooting, various other witnesses were able to place appellant and Colvin in the area on both October 3 and October 6. The Commonwealth also presented medical testimony that the victim had been shot nine times. Seven of the wounds had been caused by .25 caliber bullets while the other two wounds were caused by bullets of an undeterminable origin.
Two of appellant's claims, if meritorious, would entitle him to a discharge. [1] He first argues that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain either of his convictions. As we have oft stated:
"The test of sufficiency of the evidence is whether, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, and drawing the proper inferences favorable to the Commonwealth, the trier of fact could reasonably have found that all of the elements of the crime had been established beyond a reasonable doubt ... Moreover, it is the province of the trier of fact to pass upon the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be accorded the evidence produced ... The factfinder is free to believe all, part or none of the evidence." Commonwealth v. Rose, 463 Pa. 264, 276-68, 344 A.2d 824, 825-26 (1975) (Citations omitted).
In the instant case, the testimony of Colvin alone is sufficient to establish all of the elements of both murder of the first degree and criminal conspiracy.
Appellant's second assertion that would entitle him to a discharge is that the trial court did not have jurisdiction in the case and the charges should have been dismissed because neither of the informations had been personally signed by the district attorney. Both informations were rubber stamped with the district attorney's signature. Each, however, is also marked "Approved 12-20-78 R.C.W." The Commonwealth asserts that "R.C.W." is Assistant District Attorney Ralph C. Warman.
The Judicial Code provides:
Act of July 9, 1976, P.L. 586, No. 142, § 2, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 8931.
Furthermore, our rules provide:
"The information shall be signed by the attorney for the Commonwealth...." Pa.R.Crim.P. 225(b).
In Commonwealth v. Belcher, 258 Pa.Superior Ct. 153, 392 A.2d 730 (1978), the court was presented with a question concerning informations which contained no signature whatsoever. The court held that an unsigned information was void ab initio as opposed to merely voidable, and stated:
We believe that the approval and initialing of the information by an assistant district attorney, along with the stamped signature of the district attorney, complies with our rules, the Judicial Code and the concerns enunciated in Belcher, as Warman had been designated to act in the district attorney's stead in the manner called for in the Judicial Code. Appellant's argument is thus without merit.
Appellant next argues that the trial court erred in refusing his repeated requests for production and disclosure by the Commonwealth of any statements, reports, notes or written records concerning interviews of Commonwealth witnesses who subsequently testified at trial. The Commonwealth does not deny the existence of that which is sought by appellant; rather, the Commonwealth argues that appellant is not entitled to what they classify as "investigatory notes and incomplete summaries" of the interviews.
In Commonwealth v. Wade, 480 Pa. 160, 169, 389 A.2d 560, 564 (1978) (plurality opinion), we stated:
We believe that the above-quoted standard of Wade requires a minor clarification concerning precisely what must be disclosed following the Commonwealth witness' testimony on direct examination.
As we stated in Commonwealth v. Grayson, 466 Pa. 427, 429, 353 A.2d 428, 429 (1976), when discussing the reasons why such statements must be disclosed:
While a defendant may be seeking only notes of interviews with a Commonwealth witness, those portions of the notes which contain either verbatim, or substantially verbatim, statements which are relevant to the matter being tried should be available to the defendant for the reasons enunciated in Grayson.
We thus believe a defendant is entitled to review any notes, reports or written records relating to interviews with witnesses who subsequently testify at trial. Recognizing that questions will arise concerning which portions of the notes are, in fact, either verbatim or substantially verbatim factual accounts, we feel a hearing, outside the jury's presence, could initially resolve those disputes. The transcript from such a hearing would provide an adequate record for meaningful appellate review. As we stated in Commonwealth v. Hamm, 474 Pa. 487, 499, 378 A.2d 1219, 1225 (1977):
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Com. v. Contakos
...424 A.2d 1284 ... 492 Pa. 465 ... COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, ... Samuel C. CONTAKOS, Appellant ... Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ... Argued Sept. 26, 1980 ... Decided Feb. 4, 1981 ... [492 Pa. 467] Dennis J. Clark, Pittsburgh, for appellant ... Gerald R. Solomon, Dist. Atty., Samuel Davis, Asst. Dist ... ...