Commonwealth v. Fretts
| Decision Date | 04 October 2021 |
| Docket Number | 62 EDA 2021 |
| Citation | 271 A.3d 383 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant v. Jorge FRETTS |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Andrew J. Greer, Assistant District Attorney, Philadelphia, for Commonwealth, appellant.
Lawrence J. Goode, Assistant District Attorney, Philadelphia, for Commonwealth, appellant.
David S. Bahuriak Jr., Philadelphia, for appellee.
The Commonwealth appeals from an order entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County (trial court) granting the pretrial motion of defendant Jorge Fretts (Fretts) to quash a charge of homicide by vehicle. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.
This case arises out of a fatal collision between a garbage truck and a bicyclist that occurred on November 28, 2017 at the intersection of Spruce Street and 11th Street in Philadelphia when the garbage truck was making a right turn and the bicyclist was traveling straight. The intersection where the accident occurred is regulated by a traffic light and both the garbage truck and the bicyclist were proceeding into the intersection when the light was green. Commonwealth Ex. 2; Commonwealth Ex. 3. The garbage truck was not at the intersection when the light turned green; it was behind a car that was stopped at the intersection waiting for the light to change. Commonwealth Ex. 2; Commonwealth Ex. 3. Fretts was driving the garbage truck and remained at the scene after the accident. N.T. Preliminary Hearing at 14-15. The police at the scene did not issue any traffic citations. Id. at 19. On February 26, 2019, the Commonwealth charged Fretts with homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, and reckless endangerment.1
A preliminary hearing was held on April 17, 2019, at which the Commonwealth presented testimony by a police officer who came to the scene after the accident, the medical examiner's report showing that the accident caused the bicyclist's death, a photograph of the block of Spruce Street on which the garbage truck and bicyclist traveled before reaching the intersection where the accident occurred, and two video recordings, one, marked as Commonwealth Ex. 2, from a camera on 11th Street pointed south toward the intersection and the other, marked as Commonwealth Ex. 3, from the garbage truck.
The video from the 11th Street camera shows that the bicyclist was next to the passenger side door of the garbage truck when the accident happened and that, because of the height of the garbage truck, she was below the passenger side window. Commonwealth Ex. 2. This video does not show any flashing turn signal on the garbage truck. Id.
The video from the garbage truck includes video of the inside of the garbage truck cab, a view of the street on the left side of the garbage truck, and a recording of the truck's speed. Commonwealth Ex. 3. The video of the interior of the garbage truck cab shows Fretts looking to the right before and while making his turn. Id. The bicyclist is not visible in this video when the truck reaches the intersection and Fretts makes the turn. Id. The video of the interior of the garbage truck shows Fretts looking at some papers when the truck is stopped, but he is looking at the road and not the papers as the truck moves toward the intersection and before and while he makes the turn. Id. The video also shows that Fretts had an earbud in his right ear, but that his left ear was not obstructed, and that he was driving the truck with one hand on the steering wheel. Id.
The video of the street on the left side of the garbage truck does not show what was to the right of the garbage truck and does not show the bicyclist at all. Commonwealth Ex. 3. The recording of the garbage truck's speed shows that the truck was traveling approximately 5 miles per hour before and during the turn. Id.
The photograph of Spruce Street shows that it has a bicycle lane on the right-hand side and that there is a sign that reads "BEGIN RIGHT TURN LANE" and "YIELD TO BIKES." Commonwealth Ex. 4. The police officer testified that this sign is approximately 125 feet before the 11th Street intersection. N.T. Preliminary Hearing at 8, 10-11. The police officer testified that the garbage truck was in the proper lane for making its right turn, but that it appeared from the 11th Street video that its turn signal was not on. Id. at 13, 20.
The Commonwealth marked the two videos as exhibits at the preliminary hearing and played them, but did not have them admitted in evidence. N.T. Preliminary Hearing at 5-6, 12-16. At the end of the preliminary hearing, the municipal court judge ruled that the Commonwealth had presented a prima facie case as to the three charges of homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, and reckless endangerment. Id. at 43-44.
On July 17, 2019, Fretts filed a pretrial Motion to Quash Return of Transcript and/or Petition for Habeas Corpus (motion to quash) asserting that the Commonwealth failed to make out a prima facie case at the preliminary hearing and seeking dismissal of all of the charges. On August 14, 2019, the trial court held a hearing on the motion to quash at which the Commonwealth presented no additional evidence and did not show the videos or provide them to the trial court. N.T., 8/14/19, at 5-16. At the end of this hearing, the trial court granted the motion to quash and dismissed all the charges. Id. at 16-17. The Commonwealth filed a notice of appeal on August 22, 2019, and subsequently submitted the two videos to the trial court on August 30, 2019. Trial Court Opinion, 10/2/19, at 1-2. On August 14, 2020, this Court reversed the order dismissing the charges and remanded the case for the trial court to hold a new hearing on the motion to quash that included consideration of the videos. Commonwealth v. Fretts , 2443 EDA 2019, slip op. at 7-8, 2020 WL 4728128 (Pa. Super. August 14, 2020) (unpublished memorandum).
On December 2, 2020, the trial court held a hearing on the motion to quash at which both videos were played and admitted in evidence. N.T., 12/2/20, at 5-16. On December 3, 2020, the trial court, after considering this evidence, entered an order granting the motion to quash as to the charge of homicide by vehicle on the ground that the Commonwealth's evidence was insufficient to show that Fretts acted recklessly. Trial Court Order, 12/3/20 at 2; Trial Court Opinion, 2/16/21, at 4-7. The trial court did not dismiss the other two charges. Trial Court Order, 12/3/20 at 2.
On December 16, 2020, the Commonwealth timely filed this appeal from the dismissal of the homicide by vehicle charge.2 The Commonwealth in its notice of appeal certified that "this order terminates or substantially handicaps the prosecution." 12/16/2020 Notice of Appeal. This Court therefore has jurisdiction over this interlocutory appeal under Pa.R.A.P. 311(d).
The Commonwealth raises the following single issue for our review:
Did the lower court err in ruling that the evidence was insufficient to establish a prima facie case that defendant committed homicide by vehicle, where the evidence showed that defendant failed to yield the right-of-way to the victim-cyclist, interfered with her straight procession across the intersection, and failed to signal his turn, all of which violated the motor vehicle code and caused the victim's death?
Commonwealth's Brief at 5.3 We conclude that the Commonwealth's evidence was insufficient to establish recklessness, which is an essential element of the offense homicide by vehicle, and therefore affirm the trial court.
Fretts' motion to quash challenged whether the evidence presented by the Commonwealth was sufficient to establish a prima facie case with respect to the crime of homicide by vehicle and the other charges. Commonwealth v. Wyatt , 203 A.3d 1115, 1117 (Pa. Super. 2019) ; Commonwealth v. Dantzler , 135 A.3d 1109, 1112 (Pa. Super. 2016) (en banc ).4 To establish a prima facie case, the Commonwealth must produce evidence of every element of the offense that would be sufficient, if presented at a trial and accepted as true, for the judge to permit the case to be decided by a jury. Commonwealth v. Montgomery , ––– Pa. ––––, 234 A.3d 523, 533 (2020) ; Commonwealth v. Huggins , 575 Pa. 395, 836 A.2d 862, 866 (2003) ; Commonwealth v. Wroten , 257 A.3d 734, 2021 PA Super 124, at *10 (2021). Whether the trial court erred in holding that the Commonwealth failed to establish a prima facie case for the charge of homicide by vehicle is a question of law subject to this Court's plenary, de novo review. Wyatt , 203 A.3d at 1117 ; Dantzler , 135 A.3d at 1112.
The homicide by vehicle statute provides:
Any person who recklessly or with gross negligence causes the death of another person while engaged in the violation of any law of this Commonwealth or municipal ordinance applying to the operation or use of a vehicle or to the regulation of traffic except section 3802 () is guilty of homicide by vehicle, a felony of the third degree, when the violation is the cause of death.
75 Pa.C.S. § 3732(a). This offense thus has three elements: 1) that the defendant violated a statute or ordinance relating to operation or use of a vehicle or regulation of traffic other than the driving under the influence statute; 2) that the violation caused the death of another person; and 3) that the defendant's conduct was reckless or grossly negligent. Commonwealth v. Sanders , 2021 PA Super 163, 259 A.3d 524, 529 (2021) (en banc ); Commonwealth v. Matroni , 923 A.2d 444, 446-47 (Pa. Super. 2007).5
The state of mind of gross negligence under the homicide by vehicle statute is the same as recklessness. Sanders , 259 A.3d at 531–32 ; Wyatt , 203 A.3d at 1118 ; Matroni , 923 A.2d at 448. To establish a prima facie case of homicide by vehicle, the Commonwealth was therefore required to produce evidence that...
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