Com. v. McCoy, S.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 14, 2019
Docket44 WDA 2018
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. McCoy, S. (Com. v. McCoy, S.) 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. McCoy, S., (Pa. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

J-A05013-19

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA Appellee : : v. : : SHATAYA MCCOY : : Appellant : No. 44 WDA 2018

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence November 8, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-02-CR-0005753-2017

BEFORE: GANTMAN, P.J.E., SHOGAN, J., and MURRAY, J.

MEMORANDUM BY GANTMAN, P.J.E.: FILED MARCH 14, 2019

Appellant, Shataya McCoy, appeals from the judgment of sentence

entered in the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, following her bench

trial convictions for two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol or a

controlled substance (“DUI”) general impairment under 75 Pa.C.S.A. §

3802(a)(1) and one count of DUI high rate of alcohol under 75 Pa.C.S.A. §

3802(b). For the following reasons, we reverse the duplicate DUI general

impairment conviction at count six and affirm the judgment of sentence in all

other respects.

The relevant facts and procedural history of this case are as follows. On

March 5, 2017, at 2:54 a.m., Officer Christopher Walker was on routine patrol

when he received a dispatch to the scene of a motor vehicle accident. The

911 report stated the caller was crying and informed the dispatcher that her J-A05013-19

vehicle had crashed into a pole and her legs were broken. The 911 report also

contained the name “McCoy” and the caller’s phone number. Officer Walker

arrived on scene approximately five minutes later and observed Appellant

lying in the street clutching her legs. The officer noticed Appellant’s right leg

was bleeding, she had a bump on her head, and she appeared to have

urinated. Appellant’s speech was slurred, and the officer detected a faint odor

of alcohol on her breath. The officer observed a silver Hyundai Sonata across

the street with heavy front-end damage. Appellant said she had consumed

one drink. Officer Walker did not observe any other person at the accident

scene. Due to Appellant’s injuries, the officer did not perform field sobriety

tests. Appellant was transported to the hospital and a blood draw was

performed at 3:44 a.m. Officer Walker obtained a search warrant for the

blood draw, which showed Appellant’s blood alcohol content (“BAC”) was

0.154%.

The Commonwealth charged Appellant with multiple DUI offenses.

Appellant proceeded to a bench trial on November 8, 2017. Prior to the start

of trial, the parties discussed the admissibility of the 911 report. The

Commonwealth indicated that Officer Walker was prepared to testify about

the 911 report, unless the court required a custodian to authenticate the

report, in which case the Commonwealth would request a continuance to

obtain a custodian of records. Defense counsel objected to the admission of

the 911 report on hearsay grounds. Defense counsel argued there was no

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way to know if Appellant had been the caller or if someone else involved in

the accident had made the call. The Commonwealth claimed the 911 report

was admissible under the business record or present sense impression

exceptions to the rule against hearsay. The court said it would admit the 911

report as a business record.

The Commonwealth called Officer Walker as a witness, who testified,

inter alia, about his observations of the accident scene and interaction with

Appellant. Officer Walker also testified the 911 report is routine procedure,

which a dispatcher generates for every 911 call. Officer Walker explained how

each 911 report lists the name of the caller and the caller’s phone number at

the bottom of the report. Here, the report said the caller indicated her vehicle

had crashed into a pole and her legs were broken. The report listed the name

“McCoy” at the bottom, which is Appellant’s last name, and Appellant’s phone

number. (See N.T. Trial, 11/8/17, at 7-24). After Officer Walker’s testimony,

the Commonwealth and defense rested.1

The court convicted Appellant of two counts of DUI general impairment

and one count of DUI high rate of alcohol. Appellant proceeded immediately

to sentencing. The court sentenced Appellant for the DUI high rate of alcohol

conviction to 45 days’ house arrest with a concurrent six months’ probation.

Both DUI general impairment convictions merged with the DUI high rate of

____________________________________________

1 The Commonwealth withdrew counts one, two and three of the criminal information, charging Appellant with DUI involving a minor occupant.

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alcohol conviction for sentencing purposes. Appellant timely filed post-

sentence motions on November 13, 2017, which the court denied on

December 4, 2017. On January 3, 2018, Appellant timely filed a notice of

appeal. The court ordered Appellant, on January 8, 2018, to file a concise

statement of errors complained of on appeal, which Appellant timely filed on

March 12, 2018, after the court granted her an extension.

Appellant raises three issues for our review:

WERE [APPELLANT’S] RIGHTS UNDER THE DOUBLE JEOPARDY CLAUSE OF THE FIFTH AMENDMENT OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE 1, § 10 OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CONSTITUTION VIOLATED BECAUSE SHE WAS CHARGED AND CONVICTED OF TWO SEPARATE DUI OFFENSES, EVEN THOUGH THERE WAS ONLY ONE INCIDENT?

DID THE TRIAL COURT ABUSE ITS DISCRETION IN ADMITTING THE 911 CALL REPORT OVER DEFENSE OBJECTION, AS IT WAS INADMISSIBLE HEARSAY AND IRRELEVENT?

WAS THE EVIDENCE…INSUFFICIENT TO SUSTAIN [APPELLANT’S] DUI CONVICTIONS AS THE COMMONWEALTH DID NOT PROVE, BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, THAT SHE DROVE THE VEHICLE?

(Appellant’s Brief at 6).

In her first issue, Appellant argues the Commonwealth charged her with

two counts of DUI general impairment at counts five and six, respectively.

Appellant asserts both charges arose from the same, single incident of criminal

conduct. Appellant claims the only difference between the charges at count

five and count six is that the Commonwealth included language at count five

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indicating there was an accident resulting in bodily injury, serious bodily injury

or death of another person or damage to a vehicle or other property.

Appellant insists this language is relevant to a penalty enhancement provided

at 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3804(b)(1), but not a separate substantive crime for which

Appellant can be charged. In other words, Appellant maintains the

Commonwealth should have charged her with only one count of DUI general

impairment, which would have been subject to the “accident resulting in bodily

injury” enhancement per Section 3804(b)(1). Appellant concludes the

duplicate DUI charges at count five and count six, under Section 3802(a)(1)

violated double jeopardy, and this Court must vacate one of the DUI general

impairment convictions and remand for resentencing on the remaining DUI

general impairment conviction, with the relevant penalty enhancement.2 We

agree Appellant is entitled to some relief.

“[A]n appeal grounded in double jeopardy raises a question of

constitutional law. This court’s scope of review in making a determination on

a question of law is, as always, plenary. As with all questions of law, the

appellate standard of review is de novo.” Commonwealth v. Kearns, 70

A.3d 881, 884 (Pa.Super. 2013), appeal denied, 624 Pa. 663, 84 A.3d 1063

(2014).

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. McCoy, S., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-mccoy-s-pasuperct-2019.