Com. v. Jaynes, J.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 6, 2020
Docket2435 EDA 2018
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Jaynes, J. (Com. v. Jaynes, J.) 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. Jaynes, J., (Pa. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

J-A19008-19

J-A19009-19

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : JERREL JAYNES : : Appellant : No. 2435 EDA 2018

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered December 6, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-46-CR-0006380-2016

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : JERREL JAYNES : : Appellant : No. 2436 EDA 2018

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered December 6, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-46-CR-0001351-2017

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J., KUNSELMAN, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E.*

MEMORANDUM BY PANELLA, P.J.: FILED FEBRUARY 06, 2020

In these consolidated appeals, Jerrel Jaynes challenges the judgment of

sentence entered in the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas after the

____________________________________________

* Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court. J-A19008-19

trial court convicted him of burglary, attempted burglary, and robbery

pursuant to a stipulated non-jury trial.1 After careful review, we affirm.

Jaynes participated in a sophisticated criminal enterprise that was

responsible for committing a string of burglaries in Montgomery, Chester, and

Delaware counties.2 This large-scale burglary ring targeted affluent homes in

these counties, stealing high value and easily transportable items such as

jewelry, designer purses, and cash. The police used cellular phone records,

surveillance videos, and DNA evidence to link Jaynes and his confederates to

these burglaries.

Following his arrest, Jaynes filed pre-trial motions challenging (a) car

stops in Whitpain Township, Pennsylvania and Cherry Hill, New Jersey; (b) the

admission of phone records as business records; (c) allegedly unreliable

expert testimony; and (d) an allegedly defective search warrant. The trial

court addressed these motions during a three-day suppression hearing.

At the suppression hearing, the Commonwealth presented evidence of

the contested car stops. First, Sergeant Peter Benedetti of the Cherry Hill, New

Jersey Police Department testified he responded to an attempted home

invasion and thereafter conducted a search of the neighborhood for suspicious

vehicles. During the canvass, Sergeant Benedetti encountered a parked

1These appeals were consolidated sua sponte by this Court. 2 The other co-conspirators involved in the criminal enterprise were Kebbie Ramseur, Shron Linder, Ralph Mayrant, and Wasim Shazad. See Affidavit of Probable Cause.

-2- J-A19008-19

vehicle - with its lights off - in a dead-end area of the neighborhood, a quarter

mile from where the attempted burglary occurred.

As he approached the vehicle, Sergeant Benedetti observed Ralph

Mayrant in the driver’s seat and Shron Linder in the front passenger seat.

During the encounter, neither of the men could explain their presence in the

neighborhood, and so Sergeant Benedetti asked them to step out of the car.

He then placed the men in a police cruiser and conducted identification

and warrant checks. Based on his search, Sergeant Benedetti discovered that

Linder had an active arrest warrant. As a result, Linder was placed in custody.

Thereafter, Sergeant Benedetti entered the vehicle and, in plain view, noticed

several high-end watches in the center console and passenger compartments.

Officer Benedetti confiscated the watches and impounded the car.

Next, Officer Francis Rippert of the Whitpain Township, Pennsylvania

Police Department testified he responded to a report of three shadowy figures

in a housing development with flashlights. Following his arrival, he observed

a parked car in the development with its lights on. Officer Rippert, without

activating his emergency lights, pulled alongside the vehicle.

Officer Rippert testified that he stopped merely to inquire if the

occupants were lost. However, as the encounter continued, the driver, Kebbie

Ramseur, and his passengers, Jaynes and Linder, exhibited signs of

nervousness and provided conflicting explanations for being in the

-3- J-A19008-19

development. Officer Rippert also noticed that Jaynes and Linder were actively

trying to conceal suspicious items between their seats.

This suspicious activity, coupled with Linder’s refusal to hand over a bag,

led Officer Rippert to believe the occupants were involved in criminal activity.

He then had Jaynes and the other occupants removed from the car,

handcuffed, and detained near the vehicle.

Following Jaynes’s removal from the car, Officer Rippert conducted a

warrant check. The encounter eventually ended with the arrest of Jaynes and

Ramseur for outstanding warrants. Linder, on the other hand, was free to

leave.

In addition, the suppression court addressed Jaynes’s claim that the call

detail records of his T-Mobile cellular phone should not be admitted as

business records under the hearsay exception. Jaynes also argued that his cell

phone records - obtained pursuant to a search warrant issued in the state of

Delaware - should be suppressed because the warrant lacked probable cause.

Moreover, Jaynes argued that the Commonwealth’s expert witness, Detective

Kerr, was unqualified to testify as to Jaynes’s location during the burglaries

via cellphone records.

The court denied Jaynes’s motions. Immediately after the denial of his

motions, Jaynes proceeded to a stipulated bench trial in which the

Commonwealth incorporated the affidavits of probable cause for each docket.

On Docket 1351-2017, the court found Jaynes guilty of four counts of burglary

-4- J-A19008-19

and one count of robbery (inflicts serious bodily injury).3 On Docket 6380-

2016, Jaynes was found guilty of one count of attempted burglary.4 The court

sentenced Jaynes to an aggregate sentence of 10 to 20 years’ imprisonment

on both dockets in addition to restitution. Thereafter, Jaynes filed a post-

sentence motion, which the trial court denied. This appeal is now properly

before us.

On appeal, Jaynes presents eight issues for our review:

1. Whether . . . [the] [Suppression] Court erred in denying . . . [Jaynes’s] Motion in Limine to exclude the introduction of historical cell site data, cell tower range estimates, and the expert testimony of Detective Walter R. Kerr regarding the location of . . . [Jaynes] and his co-defendants based upon historical cell site records because the technology used for these opinions, namely a computer program known as CellHawk is unreliable, unduly prejudicial, and based upon speculation that a defendant is in the “general vicinity” in violation of Pa.R.E., 403, 702, and Detective Kerr lacked the requisite qualifications necessary to offer expert testimony regarding cell phone tracking?

2. Whether . . . [the] [Suppression] Court erred in granting the Commonwealth’s Motion to Admit certifications of Call Detail Records (“CDR”) of . . . [Jaynes’s] T-Mobile cellular phone as a business record pursuant to the hearsay exception in Pa.R.E. 902(11) because T-Mobile does not regularly conduct the business of maintaining CDR records, and . . . [Jaynes’s] T-Mobile CDR records cannot be properly authenticated in accordance with Pa.R.E. 901?

3. Whether . . . [the] [Suppression] Court erred in denying . . . [Jaynes’s] Motion to [S]uppress evidence seized from . . .

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