"John
Gorey, a union official of Teamster's Union, Local 107,
and his girl friend, Rita Janda, were the victims of an
assassination-type homicide carried out in Gorey's office
on the second floor of the local's union hall and office
building in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, on the evening of June 17, 1966. Two firearms
were used in killing each of the victims, and shots from both
weapons were found in each of the bodies. The weapons were
never found. No felony other than the homicides was involved,
and there were no witnesses to the killing, so that the
Commonwealth's case was basically presented and
predicated upon circumstantial evidence.
"... All
of the circumstances considered by the jury and described by
the witnesses covered a short period roughly between 5:55
P.M. and 7:13 P.M., on the evening of the killing. The
defendant offered no evidence, so that the testimony
presented by the Commonwealth was submitted to the jury
without contradiction.
"The
Commonwealth's principal witness, Francis McGrath, a
member of the local, had been employed by the union as
janitor in the building involved at the time of the
homicides, and had held official positions in the union in
the past. McGrath testified that he arrived on the premises
at about 5:55 P.M., at which time the building's parking
lot was vacant except for two automobiles; the
defendant's and that of another member of the union,
Gregory Carchidi, who was also employed by the local as a
janitor. The defendant, Sullivan, an official of Local 107,
was then sitting at a desk beside a window in the second
story office of another union official. From the window
Sullivan had a view of the parking lot, and his
position at the window was maintained while McGrath entered
the building, went up to that office on the second floor and
began his janitorial work there. The switchboard for the
telephone lines had been arranged for the night so that the
line listed and used for incoming calls having to do with
regular union business was plugged in to ring the extension
telephone in the room where Sullivan was sitting. Another
line with a different call number had been set up by the
switchboard operator to ring in Gorey's room, by
prearrangement with Gorey's knowledge, so that Joseph
Vernick, who wished to speak with Gorey, could reach him by
calling that number after 7 P.M. that evening. As McGrath
started his cleaning work, Sullivan asked him why he was
cleaning the building on this night, which was a Friday, and
suggested that he wait until Sunday night to do the cleaning,
pointing out that a union meeting was scheduled for Sunday
during the daytime, so that the place would require cleaning
after that meeting. The victims, Gorey and Janda, arrived
between 6:10 and 6:15 P.M. and went to Gorey's office on
the second floor. The witness continued emptying trash
baskets and working his way from one room to the next around
the second story, going from the office in which Sullivan was
sitting to the conference room which was next, but for an
areaway, to the office in which the victims then were.
"While
McGrath was in the conference room the following things
happened: John Gorey came in and had a conversation (which is
not relevant), and left. 'In a matter of seconds, a half
a minute' after Gorey left the conference room, Sullivan
entered and said again, 'Why don't you let it go
until after the meeting', speaking of the cleaning work
that McGrath was doing. There followed a conversation with
Sullivan about something that John Gorey had said, during
which Carchidi came into the conference room at
a time estimated to be a matter of a minute or two after
Sullivan had made his entrance.
"Upon
Carchidi's entrance no greetings were exchanged between
him and Sullivan. In fact, neither of them made any comment
to the other. Instead, Carchidi spoke directly to McGrath,
stating in Sullivan's presence just about what Sullivan
had just said: '... leave the cleaning go until Sunday
after the meeting.' Sullivan then left the conference
room. McGrath testified that Sullivan's departure was
'from three to five minutes, approximately', after
Gorey had left; that he then continued his cleaning, and that
Carchidi 'reminded me again to let the cleaning go until
after Sunday.' It was at this point that McGrath heard
'what I believed to be firecrackers ... I heard a lot of
noise, loud reports, which I thought were firecrackers ...
just like I said, Your Honor, it was a bunch of noises
simultaneously. Don't know how to say the word, but if
you light a whole pack of firecrackers and throw them on the
floor and they would go off one right after another.' In
this charged atmosphere McGrath turned to Carchidi who was
seated in the chair behind him and exclaimed, 'What was
that?' Whereupon Carchici stated, 'Get out of the
build-and don't say nothing'. McGrath got out of the
building and noticed that the cars that had been on the
parking lot previously Gorey's, Sullivan's and
Carchidi's, were still there, but at this time there was
another car also on the lot. McGrath fixed the time of his
departure as between 7:05 and 7:15 P.M. He testified that,
because of his hasty departure, doors to the rooms on the
second floor where he had been working had been left open and
the lights were left on when he left the building. He
returned 15 to 20 minutes later and observed that the
automobiles of Sullivan and Carchidi, and the
third car, had vacated the parking lot, leaving only the
automobile of John Gorey; in addition, all of the doors
inside the building had been closed, and all of the lights
had been turned off. The door to the conference room which
had been left open was now closed and locked.
"Other
witnesses gave testimony which served to add important
threads and details in the fabric of circumstantial evidence.
For example, when Irene Glenn telephoned, dialing in on the
principal telephone line of the union (which line, as
previously noted had been set up to ring at the desk where
Sullivan was then sitting), the call was answered by one who
stated that he was Gorey. Her recollection was that this
recipient of her call gave his name as 'Bill' Gorey;
and, while she was not sure which first name he gave, she was
quite positive that the last name given was 'Gorey'.
It was uncontested that Sullivan had written her name and
telephone number on a certain yellow sheet of paper which was
found in the waste basket in that office. Coupled with this
was the fact that her call was at 6:15 P.M., just shortly
after the victims had arrived.
"Joseph
Vernick, trying to reach Gorey, made his call to the number
which was given to him by the union's telephone
switchboard operator, Esther Snyder. She testified that she
had plugged this line into Gorey's office with his
knowledge, so that, presumably, he was expecting the call
which remained unanswered that evening, apparently after his
and Rita Janda's deaths. Vernick rang through on this
line to Gorey's telephone several times, receiving no
answer, over a period from 7:15 to 8:15 P.M."
