Commonwealth v. Rush
Decision Date | 11 May 2017 |
Docket Number | No. 767 WDA 2015,767 WDA 2015 |
Citation | 162 A.3d 530 |
Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. John Lewis RUSH, Appellant |
Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
Victoria H. Vidt, Public Defender, Pittsburgh, for appellant.
Amy E. Constantine, Assistant District Attorney, Pittsburgh, for Commonwealth, appellee.
John Lewis Rush appeals from the March 10, 2015 judgment of sentence entered in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas following his convictions of four counts of aggravated assault and one count each of disarming a law enforcement officer; torture of a police animal; cruelty to animals; resisting arrest; escape; possession of a weapon; and flight to avoid apprehension, trial, or punishment.1 We affirm.
The trial court set forth the following facts:
of three centimeters was approximately five inches long internally. Two days later she performed a second surgery. Rocco had liters of blood in his abdomen indicative of extensive internal hemorrhaging. Dr. Compton could not find the source of the bleeding. While attempting to find the source of the bleeding, Dr. Compton discovered that Rocco's spine had been fractured by the knife wound. She stated that "to shred a piece of bone off a dog's spine underneath inches of muscle would take a very large amount of force." Dr. Compton said that Commonwealth Exhibit 14, a pocket knife with the tip broken off, was consistent with the weapon that caused Rocco's injuries. She testified that the force required to break off the tip of the blade would be similar to the force required to injure the dog's spine. Further, she testified that the length of the blade would have been sufficient to cause Rocco's wounds, assuming the knife was fully inserted into the dog. Rocco died on January 30, 2014 from hemorrhaging resulting from a stab wound.
1925(a) Opinion, 2/16/16, at 3–4, 6–10 ("1925(a) Op.") (internal citations omitted).
On December 5, 2014, a jury found Rush guilty of the aforementioned crimes. On March 10, 2015, the trial court sentenced Rush to an aggregate term of 14 years and 10 months' to 36 years and 6 months' incarceration, followed by 8 years' probation.4 Rush filed post-sentence motions, which the trial court denied on April 16, 2015. On May 15, 2015, Rush timely filed a notice of appeal.
Rush raises the following issues on appeal:
Rush's Br. at 7 (suggested answers omitted).
Rush claims that during testimony concerning the death of Rocco juror number six ("Juror No. 6") cried, which demonstrated bias and partiality. He further claims that the trial court did not question Juror No. 6 and that the instructions given to the jury at the conclusion of trial were insufficient to address the incident. Finally, Rush argues his request to dismiss Juror No. 6 should have been granted.
Article I, section 9 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, as well as the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, guarantees a defendant the right to an impartial jury. Pa. Const., art. I § 9 ; U.S. Const. amend. VI. "It is well settled that the purpose of voir dire is to ensure the empanelling of a fair and impartial jury capable of following the instructions of the trial court." Commonwealth v. Lesko, 609 Pa. 128, 15 A.3d 345, 412–13 (2011). Our Supreme Court has explained that a juror is not expected "to be free from all prejudices[;] rather,...
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