Com. v. Gold, M.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 22, 2018
Docket826 EDA 2016
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Gold, M. (Com. v. Gold, M.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Com. v. Gold, M., (Pa. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

J-S72010-17

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA Appellee

v.

MICHAEL C. GOLD,

Appellant No. 826 EDA 2016

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered October 1, 2015 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0010118-2014

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., MUSMANNO, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E.*

MEMORANDUM BY BENDER, P.J.E.: FILED FEBRUARY 22, 2018

Appellant, Michael C. Gold, appeals from the judgment of sentence of

an aggregate term of 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment, followed by 5 years’

probation, imposed after a jury convicted him of aggravated assault and

several related offenses. We affirm.

The trial court summarized the procedural history and factual

background of this case as follows: After a jury trial, commencing on July 29, 2015, [Appellant] was found guilty on July 31, 2015[,] on charges of aggravated assault[, 18 Pa.C.S. § 2702(a)], carrying a firearm without a license[, 18 Pa.C.S. § 6106], carrying a firearm on a public street or property[, 18 Pa.C.S. § 6108], and possession of an instrument of crime[, 18 Pa.C.S. § 907]. On October 1, 2015, [Appellant] was sentenced to an aggregate imprisonment term of ten (10) to twenty (20) years, followed by five (5) years[’] probation. Thereafter, he filed a post-sentence motion, which was denied on ____________________________________________

* Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court. J-S72010-17

February 10, 2016. On February 29, 2016, he filed a notice of appeal. This court ordered [Appellant] to file a statement of matters complained of on appeal on March 1, 2016. He filed his statement on March 21, 2016.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

On July 21, 2014, [Appellant] approached Warren Wallace on the 1700 block of South 59th Street and shot him once in his left leg. Mr. Wallace had been inside his home before the shooting when he received a phone call from Cianna Davis, his then girlfriend, who informed him that she was about to fight someone outside her home. Mr. Wallace attempted to persuade her against it, but she went outside to join in a fight involving three (3) to four (4) other females. As a result, Mr. Wallace left his residence at 5912 Springfield Avenue and followed Ms. Davis about one-half block to the corner of 59th and Belmar Streets. He was about thirty (30) feet behind Cianna Davis when the fight began at the corner. There were about twenty (20) to thirty (30) people standing around the scene.

Warren Wallace saw a man, later identified as [Appellant], come from behind a car, approach Cianna Davis, and punch her in the back of her neck. Mr. Wallace ran up the street toward [Appellant] and tried to punch him in the face. However, before Mr. Wallace landed a punch, [Appellant] struck him, and the two men began to fight with each other. During this brawl, an unnamed female hit Mr. Wallace in the face. As he turned to address this woman, [Appellant] pulled out a silver and black revolver from his right pants pocket and shot Mr. Wallace in the leg. After the shooting, [Appellant] fled the scene, running toward Windsor Street.

At 1:11 p.m., Police Officer Ethan Houser responded to a radio call about this shooting. When he arrived on scene, he saw the victim near a tan vehicle and called for rescue. At about 1:18 p.m., Fire Department Paramedic Kevin Roberts arrived on the 1700 block of South 59th Street, where he found Mr. Wallace suffering a gunshot wound to his left thigh and an open femur fracture. Paramedic Roberts stabilized the victim and transported him to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at 34th and Spruce Streets, where he underwent surgery. The surgeon did not remove the bullet, but a steel [rod was] placed inside his leg. After his release from the hospital, Mr. Wallace engaged in physical therapy three (3) hours per day, three (3) times a week, for six (6) months. He walked on crutches for four (4) months.

-2- J-S72010-17

At trial, Mr. Wallace stated that he still feels pain and walks with a limp.

Detective Craig Fife from the Special Investigations Unit was assigned to investigate this shooting. He went to the crime scene and recovered a purple head scarf from the middle of the street and a can of mace from the curb. He also found a Pennsylvania state identification card for Antoinette M. Rhodes on the 1700 block of South 59th Street. This item was returned to Ms. Rhodes on August 11, 2014. No ballistics evidence was found on the crime scene, which was secured, sketched and photographed.

At 2:41 p.m., Detective Fife interviewed Warren Wallace at the hospital. He provided a signed statement wherein he described the shooter. On the next day, July 22, 2014, at 4:25 p.m., Detective Robert Conway showed Mr. Wallace a photographic array. He recognized one male from the photographic array and stated that the man was on the scene during the fight. Mr. Wallace also provided Detective Conway with a description of the shooter during this interview. About one week later, Mr. Wallace was shown another photographic array in black and white. He did not identify any one [sic] at that time. On August 5, 2014, at 1:53 p.m., Detective Fife showed Mr. Wallace the same photographic array in color. This photographic array included photographs of the same individuals who were previously shown to him in the black and white photographic array. After being shown the color photographic array, Mr. Wallace identified [Appellant] as the shooter.

At trial, the victim explained why he was unable to identify the shooter in the black and white photographic array. He stated: “Because it’s in black and white. Everybody look the same for real for real.” He further explained that no one stood out to him in the black and white photographic array, but that he quickly identified [Appellant] when he viewed the color photographs.

On July 21, 2014, at 2:30 p.m., Detective Michael Kimmel went to the Sing Gong Chinese Restaurant at the corner of 59th and Belmar Streets and recovered surveillance videotape from eight (8) cameras in and around the property. He discovered that the time listed on the videotape was one (1) hour, seven (7) minutes and eleven (11) seconds slow. From this recovered surveillance videotape, Detective Kert Wilson prepared a compilation videotape that was three (3) minutes and twenty-one (21) seconds in length. The videotape displayed [Appellant’s] crossing

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the street on the crosswalk toward the Chinese restaurant. The videotape then showed [Appellant’s] entering the Chinese store and subsequently leaving with his purchase. The videotape is time stamped at 12:00:04 p.m. However, the actual time is about 1:07 p.m.

During the course of this investigation, Detective Fife reviewed the compilation videotape. At trial, Detective Fife stated that he had made significant observations while viewing the videotape. As [Appellant] turned his body toward the counter inside the Chinese restaurant, an object appeared to be underneath the right side of [Appellant’s] shirt. [Appellant] appeared to be adjusting his pants, particularly on the right side.

At trial, the Commonwealth introduced a self-authenticating certification of non-licensure that provided [Appellant] did not have a valid license to carry firearms under Section 6106 of the Uniform Firearms Act.

Trial Court Opinion (TCO), 12/15/2016, at 1-4 (internal citations omitted).

As mentioned supra, Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal, and a

timely, court-ordered Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement of errors complained of on

appeal. Thereafter, the trial court issued an opinion pursuant to Rule 1925(a).

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Com. v. Gold, M., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-gold-m-pasuperct-2018.