Commonwealth v. Holmes
| Decision Date | 25 April 2023 |
| Docket Number | 2055 EDA 2021,J-S37007-22 |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. JACOB HOLMES, JR. Appellant |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Jacob Holmes, Jr. appeals from the April 27, 2021 judgment of sentence which imposed a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and a consecutive fifteen to thirty years of incarceration, stemming from his convictions for first-degree murder and criminal conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. We affirm.
On the evening of March 30, 2009, Easton police responded to a report of a shooting at the Easton Cafe. Upon arrival, the police found Miguel Aponte ("the victim") laying on the floor of the bar, deceased. A forensic pathologist determined that the victim's cause of death was multiple gunshot wounds and that the manner of death was homicide. Witnesses on scene recalled seeing Franklin Barndt, a white male, twice entering the bar, looking around, and leaving shortly before the shooting. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol VIII, 12/9/20, at 45-47, 51-52; see also N.T. Jury Trial Vol X, 12/11/20, at 29. Moments after Barndt's second exit someone knocked on the locked back door near where the victim was seated. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol VII, 12/8/20, at 146-47. The bartender opened the door to find a light-skinned black man with a face mask and a gun who immediately opened fire on the victim. Id. at 148. The victim was shot seven times at close range. No other patrons were injured before the shooter fled the area.
While Barndt's skin color meant that he was not the shooter, Barndt's suspicious behavior led officers to believe he was associated with the shooter. Id. at 196-97 (). In addition to witnesses identifying Barndt, his cell phone records placed him in the area of the Easton Cafe before and during the shooting. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol X, 12/11/20, at 34, 40-41, 46. Barndt admitted he was at the Easton Cafe that night, but initially claimed that he left the area forty-five minutes before the shooting and walked to the Brick House Tavern, which was several miles away. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol VIII, 12/9/20, at 206. Barndt's paramour Raquel Meyer confirmed Barndt's movements, explaining that she had picked Barndt up from the Brick House Tavern. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol IX, 12/10/20, at 39.
However, months later, Meyer provided a second, more detailed statement, explaining that Barndt had summoned her to the Brick House Tavern to pick him up, instructed her to come alone, and that Appellant had entered the vehicle with Barndt. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol IX, 12/10/20, at 27-29. Both men were "hyped up" and she overheard Barndt trying to convince Appellant of her trustworthiness. Id. at 31-32. The next morning Meyer drove Barndt to a nearby park and watched as he threw a firearm into the Delaware River. Id. at 33-35. Alarmed by this development, Meyer questioned Barndt about the firearm, but he told her to "mind [her] business." Id. After the second interview, Meyer moved to Puerto Rico, "fearing what could happen from this." N.T. Jury Trial Vol X, 12/11/20, at 69. Meyer's cell phone records confirmed that she was at home when the homicide occurred. Id. at 70. A recovery service searched the river, but the firearm was never found. Id. at 67-68.
Meanwhile, officers discovered that in 2006 Appellant was shot and wounded when his best friend, Jason Oliver, was shot to death by John Logan, an associate of the victim. Appellant initially told officers at the hospital that he did not know who the shooter was, but that "he would recognize him, and if he sees him he'll get him." N.T. Jury Trial Vol VII, 12/8/20, at 86. Later, Appellant identified Logan as the shooter and the victim as his associate. Id. at 108. Logan was arrested and pled guilty to homicide, receiving a sentence of twenty to forty years of incarceration. Id. at 109. The victim was also arrested and charged with criminal homicide. However, after Appellant testified at the victim's preliminary hearing, the victim pled guilty to carrying a firearm without a license and received a sentence of two and one-half to five years of incarceration. Id. at 111-12, 124-26. On December 31, 2008, the victim was released from incarceration. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol VIII, 12/9/20, at 67. He was killed less than ninety days later.
In 2010, Appellant agreed to speak with police about the Easton Cafe, but denied involvement, claiming he was "home all night." N.T. Jury Trial Vol X, 12/11/20, at 77-78. Appellant admitted that he knew Barndt but denied calling or hanging out with him the night of the Easton Cafe homicide. Id. at 78. However, Appellant's phone records contradicted his statements, revealing that he had exchanged several calls with Barndt before and after the shooting, was in the vicinity of the Easton Cafe at the time of the shooting, and moved in concert with Barndt in its immediate aftermath. Id. at 165-95, 210.
Due to difficulties in obtaining witness cooperation, the district attorney's office convened three separate investigating grand juries pertaining to the Easton Cafe homicide. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol X, 12/11/20, at 30-31, 56. When Barndt heard that Meyer was returning from Puerto Rico to testify at the grand jury proceeding, he absconded from his boot camp assignment at Rockview State Prison, where he was serving time on an unrelated conviction. Barndt was captured a couple hours later, returned to prison, and charged with escape. Meyer testified before the grand jury consistently with the statement she made during her second interview. Barndt also testified before the grand jury, for the first time identifying Appellant as the shooter, but denying any involvement in the shooting. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol VIII, 12/9/20, at 233; see also N.T. Jury Trial Vol X, 12/11/20, at 57-58. During his testimony before the second grand jury, Barndt admitted that he entered the vehicle with Appellant after the shooting.
Meanwhile, on April 30, 2012, Megan Fenar, Appellant's former paramour, went to the Easton Police Department to make a report in an unrelated matter. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol IX, 12/10/20, at 136. While there, Fenar informed police that she had information about a murder and revealed that Appellant admitted to her that he killed the victim. Id. at 138-39. Appellant had also told Fenar that his friend Barndt was there and that a woman had acted as their driver. Id. at 152-53. Appellant expressed confidence that he would get away with the homicide because the woman had moved to Puerto Rico. Id.
In December of 2013, Barndt was arrested and pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder with Appellant and related charges for the death of the victim. The same day, Barndt also pled guilty to terroristic threats due to threats he had made to kill law enforcement officers involved in the investigation of this shooting. Barndt was sentenced to an aggregate sixteen to forty-two years of incarceration for his role in the victim's homicide.
On March 15, 2016, Barndt requested a meeting with law enforcement through his attorney. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol VIII, 12/9/20, at 212. During the meeting, Barndt revealed for the first time the full extent of his involvement in the homicide. Barndt explained that he received multiple calls from Appellant on the evening of March 30, 2009, during which they discussed the victim's presence at the Easton Cafe. After Appellant repeatedly stated that he wanted to kill the victim and Barndt confirmed his location in the bar, the two met up in a parking lot near the Easton Cafe, exchanging clothing and a firearm. Together they approached the side door to Easton Cafe before Appellant entered the bar and repeatedly fired at the victim while Barndt remained outside. Afterwards, Appellant returned the firearm to Barndt and they fled to the Brick House Tavern together in Appellant's vehicle. Barndt admitted to driving the getaway vehicle and took officers to the location where he disposed of the firearm the next day, matching Meyer's earlier description. See N.T. Jury Trial Vol X, 12/11/20, at 64.
In August of 2017, Easton police officers arrested Appellant and charged him with criminal homicide, criminal conspiracy to commit criminal homicide, recklessly endangering another person, and carrying a firearm without a license. Thereafter, the Commonwealth filed a notice of intent to seek the death penalty.
In 2018, Appellant filed an omnibus pretrial motion, requesting, among other claims, a change of venue or venire due to pretrial publicity. See Omnibus Pretrial Motion, 1/18/18, at 4. After a change of counsel, Appellant filed a supplemental motion raising the same issues. On March 23, 2018, the trial court held a hearing on the pretrial motions. Following the hearing, Appellant filed a second supplemental omnibus pretrial motion, attaching various media articles. On April 11, 2018, the trial court issued an order and opinion. The court included additional media articles that Appellant had not provided, concluded that Appellant's pretrial publicity claims were "overstated," and denied the motion without prejudice. Trial Court Opinion, 4/11/18 at 24. Over the next two years, Appellant and the Commonwealth continued to litigate various pretrial motions which are not pertinent to this appeal, including the admissibility of the jail house confession Appellant made to the brother of Jason Oliver, the victim from the 2006 shooting.
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