Com. v. Mofield, Y.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 18, 2025
Docket2920 EDA 2023
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Mofield, Y. (Com. v. Mofield, Y.) 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. Mofield, Y., (Pa. Ct. App. 2025).

Opinion

J-S25005-25

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : YAMEEN MOFIELD : : Appellant : No. 2920 EDA 2023

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered October 6, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0008014-2021

COMMONWEALTH OF : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA : PENNSYLVANIA : : v. : : : YAMEEN MOFIELD : : No. 2921 EDA 2023 Appellant

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered October 6, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0008015-2021

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J.E., DUBOW, J., and BENDER, P.J.E.

MEMORANDUM BY PANELLA, P.J.E.: FILED SEPTEMBER 18, 2025

Yameen Mofield appeals from the judgment of sentence, an aggregate

term of 45 to 90 years’ incarceration, entered in the Court of Common Pleas

of Philadelphia County after a jury convicted him of third-degree murder,

conspiracy, aggravated assault, and various firearms offenses. In this

consolidated appeal, Mofield challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to J-S25005-25

sustain his third-degree murder and conspiracy convictions, the trial court’s

evidentiary rulings, and the discretionary aspects of his sentence. After careful

consideration, we affirm.

This case arises out of a series of retaliatory shootings between two rival

South Philadelphia gangs that led to an incident during which Mofield and other

31st Street gang members opened fire on a gas station, killing 15-year-old

R.B. and wounding two others, K.B. and Q.B. Mofield was subsequently

arrested and charged with, inter alia, murder, attempted murder, conspiracy

to commit murder, aggravated assault, possessing instruments of crime

(“PIC”), firearms not to be carried without a license, and carrying firearms on

public streets in Philadelphia.1 The Honorable Charles A. Ehrlich

comprehensively summarized the evidence and testimony presented at the

joint trial of Mofield and Hanef Wilkins, coconspirator and fellow 31st Street

gang member, as follows:

Philadelphia Police Sergeant Carmen Palmiero testified that he was at the Philadelphia Police First District at around 8:00 p.m. on October 4, 2018, when a young black male, later identified as K.B., ran into the lobby bleeding and claimed that he had been shot at a gas station. At the same time, police received multiple calls reporting a shooting at 25th and Passyunk. Sergeant Palmiero subsequently responded to the gas station at 2435 West Passyunk Avenue, located around the corner from the First District. Upon arrival, Sergeant Palmiero was directed to the rear of the gas station, where he found an unresponsive black male on the ground covered in blood. Sergeant Palmiero and his partner immediately transported the male, later identified as fifteen-year- ____________________________________________

118 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2502, 901(a), 903(c), 2702(a), 907(a), 6106(a)(1), and 6108, respectively.

-2- J-S25005-25

old R.B., in the back of their police vehicle to Presbyterian Hospital. R.B. was pronounced dead at the hospital at 8:35 p.m. Jacqueline Nichols testified that R.B. was her grandson, born on March 19, 2003, and that she last saw him alive on October 3, 2018, when he visited her at her house.

Philadelphia Police Detective Ralph Domenic testified that he was assigned to investigate R.B.’s murder. Detective Domenic went to the scene of the murder and was able to recover video footage from the gas station where the murder occurred. The Commonwealth and counsel for [Mofield] and Wilkins stipulated that video was recovered from the gas station at 2435 West Passyunk Avenue and surrounding areas which depicted the shooting on October 4, 2018.

Philadelphia Police Detective Thorsten Lucke, an expert in digital surveillance, video recovery, and analysis, testified that he created a compilation of video footage of the shooting. The footage showed a vehicle traveling westbound and pulling up to the gas station, shooting at individuals who could be seen standing around the gas station, then traveling west toward 25th Street after the shooting concluded. A slowed-down and zoomed-in version of this same footage showed an individual leaving the shooting vehicle through the front passenger side door and a second individual inside the vehicle by the passenger side rear door. Visible muzzle flashes and disturbances captured by the infrared cameras indicated that both individuals were sources of gunfire. This footage also showed an individual with a gun running and reentering the vehicle prior to the vehicle driving away. Detective Lucke testified that police were unable to obtain any additional footage which showed the continued path of travel for the vehicle involved in the shooting.

Philadelphia Police Officer Terry Tull testified that at 9:45 p.m. on October 4, 2018, he assisted with processing the scene at 2435 West Passyunk Avenue. Officer Tull testified that several pieces of physical evidence were recovered from the scene, including ballistic evidence, swabs of blood stains, a black book bag, and a black hooded sweatshirt. …

Dr. Lindsay Simon, an expert in forensic pathology, testified that on October 5, 2018, she performed an autopsy on R.B. Dr. Simon concluded that R.B.’s cause of death was a gunshot wound of the torso and that the manner of his death was homicide. Dr. Simon

-3- J-S25005-25

testified that the gunshot entered through the left side of R.B.’s back and exited through the left side of his chest, perforating two [] of his ribs, his aorta, and multiple areas of his heart. Based on the lack of stippling on R.B.’s body, Dr. Simon estimated that the gun was fired at least two [] to three [] feet away.

On October 5, 2018, the day after the murder, Detective Domenic received information that some statements were made during the execution of a search warrant at [Mofield’s] residence which potentially implicated him in the murder. The Commonwealth and counsel for [Mofield] and [] Wilkins stipulated that while Philadelphia Police Officer Matthew York was executing a search warrant at 2832 Aramingo Avenue, [Mofield’s] mother asked if [Mofield] had anything to do with what happened at the gas station the day before, which would have been October 4, 2018.

***

Detective Domenic testified that on October 18, 2018, Philadelphia Police Officer Christopher Lai gave him the names of several possible suspects for the murder: [Mofield], Nyseem Smith, and Kameron Purnell. Officer Lai testified that he was assigned to the Seventeenth Police District in South Philadelphia for almost fifteen [] years and knew many people from the neighborhood from his time patrolling there, including R.B.’s family and Q.B.’s family. In 2016, Officer Lai helped police determine that shootings occurring in the Grays Ferry area were related to two [] groups. Multiple reports compiled from recovered firearms and fired cartridge casings showed a pattern of back-and- forth shootings on 27th Street and 31st Street. Based on conversations with people in the neighborhood and social media posts he found, Officer Lai determined that there were two [] gangs — one representing 27th Street and the other representing 31st Street — which had come into conflict with each other.

Officer Lai testified that he began monitoring gang activity on social media and found that members of both gangs were active on Instagram and YouTube. Officer Lai identified Instagram accounts belonging to [Mofield] and [] Wilkins, both of which had usernames that referenced 31st Street.

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