Com. v. Jamison, A.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 8, 2025
Docket1458 WDA 2023
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Jamison, A. (Com. v. Jamison, A.) 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. Jamison, A., (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

J-A22030-24

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : ANTHONY MARTIN JAMISON : : Appellant : No. 1458 WDA 2023

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered November 30, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Westmoreland County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-65-CR-0001405-2021

BEFORE: MURRAY, J., McLAUGHLIN, J., and KING, J.

MEMORANDUM BY McLAUGHLIN, J.: FILED: January 8, 2025

Anthony Martin Jamison appeals from the judgment of sentence

imposed following his convictions for possession of a controlled substance with

intent to deliver (“PWID”), two counts of possession of a controlled substance,

and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.1 Jamison challenges the

trial court’s refusal to question jurors about racial prejudice; the sufficiency of

the evidence to prove PWID; the admission of evidence from his Waze app;

and the court’s application of the sentencing guidelines. We affirm.

At Jamison’s jury trial, Detective Shane Rebel testified that, acting

undercover, he arranged by telephone to buy 11 bricks of heroin and two

grams of cocaine from Jamison. Trial Court Opinion, filed 3/14/24, at 11. When

Jamison arrived at the meeting spot – the Hampton Inn in North Huntingdon ____________________________________________

1 See 35 P.S. § 780-113(a)(30) and (a)(16), and 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 4910(1), respectively. J-A22030-24

– Detective Rebel observed him from an unmarked police vehicle. Detective

Rebel then sent a message to Jamison, asking him to meet for the exchange

at the Hampton Inn in Greensburg, instead. Id. at 12. Rebel followed Jamison

as he drove towards Greensburg, stopping at a Sheetz gas station. Once

Jamison started driving again, Detective Rebel instructed another officer,

Scott Urias, to stop Jamison. Id. at 12-13.

During the stop, Jamison ran from the police. Id. at 13. Officer Urias

testified that as Jamison ran, he threw a plastic bag. Id. at 17. After Jamison

was arrested, Officer Urias and Officer Jay Kettren retrieved the bag and found

it contained what appeared to be bricks of heroin and a bag of crack cocaine.

Id. at 17, 18. Detective Rebel determined the bag held approximately 540

stamp bags of heroin and one bag of cocaine. Id. at 14. Detective Rebel also

recovered $1,305 from Jamison’s pocket. Id. at 13.

Detective Rebel obtained a search warrant for Jamison’s vehicle and

found two cell phones.2 He then obtained a search warrant for their contents.

Detective Rebel was only able to retrieve information from one of the phones.

He gave the phone to Officer Tom Klawinski, a digital forensic examiner, to

extract the digital contents of the phone. Id. at 15. Officer Klawinski testified

that he extracted the data from the phone for Detective Rebel. Id. at 21-22;

see also N.T., Trial, 9/11/23-9/13/23, at 280-84. Detective Rebel testified

that the data showed the phone had the number which he had used to arrange

____________________________________________

2 Detective Rebel found a third cell phone which appeared inoperable.

-2- J-A22030-24

the controlled buy with Jamison. See Trial Ct. Op. at 15; N.T. at 334. He also

testified that the Waze navigational app on the phone showed searches for

the addresses of the Hampton Inn in North Huntingdon and the Hampton Inn

in Greensburg, just prior to the arrest. See Trial Ct. Op. at 15-16; N.T. 332-

33, 335-36. There was also location data for the Sheetz. See Trial Ct. Op. at

16; N.T. at 336. The phone also contained a picture of the key for the rental

vehicle, which Detective Rebel discovered had been rented by Jamison’s

girlfriend, and her address. See Trial Ct. Op. at 14-15; N.T. at 333-34.

The Commonwealth presented the expert testimony of a forensic

scientist, Alyshia Meyers, who tested the drugs found in Jamison’s bag. She

testified that she tested the items in four groups. First, she tested the contents

of 14 of the 488 stamp bags that displayed a “Pop Smoke” stamp. The results

of the testing, of which Meyers was 95% confident, showed that at least 80%

of those bags contained 16 grams (plus or minus 3 grams) of a mixture of

heroin, acetyl fentanyl, fentanyl, and tramadol. Trial Ct. Op. at 23-24. Second,

Meyers tested one of three unmarked stamp bags, which she concluded

contained 0.043 grams of a similar mixture. Id. at 24-25. Third, she tested

one of the 50 stamp bags with a “WS” and purple diamond stamp and

concluded they also contained a mixture of heroin, fentanyl, and tramadol.

Id. at 25. Finally, she tested a Ziploc bag that she found contained

approximately 1.95 grams of cocaine. Id. Meyers explained she uses

statistical modeling to extrapolate her estimates using a limited number of

samples. Id. at 23; N.T. at 230, 267-68.

-3- J-A22030-24

Detective Tony Marcocci, an expert in the field of narcotics and narcotics

investigation, also testified. N.T. at 395; Trial Ct. Op. at 26. He offered an

opinion that the heroin/fentanyl was possessed with intent to distribute it. N.T.

at 419. He discussed the factors he considers when determining whether a

person had the intent to distribute the narcotics found in the person’s

possession. Trial Ct. Op. at 26. In this case, he considered the lack of

paraphernalia, the large amount of cash Jamison had on hand, the multiple

cell phones, and the use of a rental car to be indicators that Jamison intended

to deliver the narcotics recovered by the police. Id. at 26-27 (citing N.T. at

402-03, 412, 414, 416). Detective Marcocci also found that the fact the vehicle

had been rented by a third party was indicative of drug dealing, as was the

packaging of the drugs. See N.T. at 416, 419. Detective Marcocci testified

that the weight of the narcotics recovered in this case was consistent with an

intent to deliver. Trial Ct. Op. at 27 (citing N.T. at 407, 411); see also N.T.

at 419, 441-42. He testified that if a person possessed only 20 bags of heroin,

rather than 541, he would be less likely to conclude from that fact alone that

the person had the intent to deliver the drugs. N.T. at 437-38. However,

Detective Marcocci testified that even in that circumstance, the presence of

the other factors present in this case would still lead him to conclude that the

person had an intent to deliver. Id. at 442-44.

-4- J-A22030-24

Following trial, the jury convicted Jamison of the above offenses.3 The

court sentenced him to an aggregate of five to 10 years’ incarceration and one

year of probation. Jamison appealed.4

Jamison raises the following issues:

I. WHETHER THE COURT ERRED BY NOT ALLOWING POTENTIAL JURORS TO BE QUESTIONED CONCERNING THEIR PREJU[D]ICE AND BIAS TOWARD A YOUNG BLACK MALE CHARGED WITH SELLING DRUGS IN AN AFFLUENT PRIMARILY WHITE COMMUNITY?

II. WHETHER THE COMMONWEALTH FAILED TO [PRESENT] SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO PROVE BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT THAT [JAMISON] POSSESSED 541 STAMP BAGS, EACH CONTAINING A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE?

III. WHETHER THE COMMONWEALTH FAILED TO PRESENT [SUFFICIENT] EXPERT OPINION TESTIMONY THAT [JAMISON] POSSESSED 541 STAMP BAGS, EACH CONTAINING [A] CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE WITH THE INTENT TO DELIVER THAT CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE?

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