Com. v. Nelson, L.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided March 19, 2021·No. 150 EDA 2019·Unpublished

Opinion

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Appellee

v.

LARRY ERIC NELSON Appellant No. 150 EDA 2019

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence imposed December 18, 2018 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No: CP-51-CR-0011147-2013

BEFORE: STABILE, J., NICHOLS, J., and COLINS, J.* MEMORANDUM BY STABILE, J.: FILED: MARCH 19, 2021 Appellant, Larry Eric Nelson (hereinafter, “Appellant” or “Nelson”), appeals from the December 18, 2018 judgment of sentence of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. On appeal, Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions for first- degree murder1 and robbery. Upon review, we affirm.

The relevant factual and procedural background can be summarized as

follows.2 The victim, Thomas Watson, lived above a Häagen-Dazs ice cream

*

Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

1 Appellant erroneously states that Appellant was found guilty of seconddegree murder. In fact, Appellant was convicted of first-degree murder.

2 The record before us is incomplete. Appellant failed to include the full trial transcripts. The trial spanned over two weeks. Appellant, however, provided transcripts for only two trial days. It is settled that an appellant bears the

store at 242 South Street in Philadelphia. He worked across town as a DJ at the Copabanana Club at 40th and Spruce Streets. At about 2:00 a.m. on May 11, 2013, after finishing work at the Copabanana, the victim texted James Weisbrod, who drove an unlicensed cab in Philadelphia, and asked Weisbrod for a ride. Weisbrod picked up the victim and another man, co-defendant Ronnie Robinson,3 who worked as a security guard at the Copabanana. Weisbrod drove Robinson to an address in North Philadelphia. Weisbrod and the victim then stopped at a restaurant before driving to the victim’s apartment. N.T. Trial, 10/10/18, at 94-97.

Weisbrod parked his Lincoln Town Car on American Street and then helped the victim unload his DJ equipment outside his apartment. The victim entered the closed Häagen-Dazs store, through which he had to walk in order to get to his second floor apartment. As Weisbrod was about to leave the area, he noticed that the victim had not moved his DJ equipment, which was still outside in the rain. Concerned, he returned to South Street and opened

responsibility of ensuring that the certified record is complete for our review. Commonwealth v. Lopez, 57 A.3d 74, 82 (Pa. Super. 2012), appeal denied, 62 A.3d 379 (Pa. 2013). Moreover, it is black letter law in this jurisdiction that an appellate court cannot consider anything which is not part of the record in the case. Commonwealth v. Boyd, 679 A.2d 1284, 1290 (Pa. Super. 1996) (citation omitted), appeal denied, 689 A.2d 230 (Pa. 1997). Nonetheless, we decline to find waiver because our review of this appeal is not impeded. Appellant here proceeded with multiple co-defendants to a joint trial. As all co-defendants have appealed, we have access to the complete trial testimony through them.

3 Ronnie Robinson is also known as “Lonnie Robinson,” but for purposes of this appeal we shall refer to him only as “Ronnie Robinson”.

the door to the Häagen-Dazs store. Co-defendant Clarence Pone blocked Weisbrod’s path and told him, “Get the fuck out of here.” Id. at 98, 101-02. Weisbrod got into his car, but instead of leaving the area, he circled the block and parked his car in front of the Häagen-Dazs store. When he heard two gunshots, Weisbrod got out of his car and walked into the store. As he entered, co-defendant Josephe Murray left the store. Weisbrod saw the victim lying on the ground behind the counter and called 911. Id. at 102-04.

At approximately 3:00 a.m., Philadelphia Police Officers Corson and Duffy were on patrol when they received a radio call for a robbery in progress at the Häagen-Dazs store. The officers entered the store and discovered the victim’s body behind the ice cream counter. Officer Corson observed wounds to the victim’s chest and head. While on the premises, the officers noticed signs of a struggle and heard a cell phone ringing, but they could not locate the phone. Id. at 75-79; N.T. Trial, 10/11/18, at 25-28.

Philadelphia Police Officer Coleman also heard the radio call for the Häagen-Dazs store robbery and learned that the suspects were last seen running down American Street wearing dark clothing. As he drove north on American Street, he noticed a discarded black hoodie and glove lying on the sidewalk. Officer Coleman covered the items with a heavy paper bag to protect them from the elements and turned them over to a crime scene investigator. Forensic testing later demonstrated that the victim’s DNA was on the upper back portion of the hoodie. N.T. Trial, 10/11/18, at 53, 65, 68; N.T. Trial, 10/22/18, at 208.

Police officers reviewed camera footage from inside and outside the Häagen-Dazs store depicting the final moments of the victim’s life. The video showed that one hour before the murder, two vehicles, a Honda and a green Ford Explorer, parked along the 200 block of South Street, where the drivers and occupants waited until Weisbrod and the victim arrived in Weisbrod’s vehicle. As the victim entered the store, two men followed him inside and one produced a large handgun. The victim struggled with the two men, who kicked and beat him with the handgun. The video showed that Weisbrod attempted to enter the store but was stopped by an individual blocking his path. The victim was then shot. Weisbrod returned to the store, where a man with a bloodstained hoodie ran past him in the doorway and ran down the street. N.T. Trial, 10/11/18, at 159; N.T. Trial, 10/15/18, at 162-63, 168-79.

On May 12, 2013, one day after the shooting, Detective John Harkins recovered a Samsung TracFone (a pre-paid cellphone) from inside the store that had fallen underneath an ice cream machine. The officers submitted an exigent circumstances request for information to T-Mobile and learned that the phone had been shipped to a woman named Carmen Melton, who lived at 5718 Reedland Street. The officers reviewed the call logs to see if they could learn any information about the identities of individuals attempting to contact the phone. One telephone number was associated with a woman named Cheneka Jones, who lived at 5706 Reedland Street. The officers used a search database to determine who else was associated with that address. They saw

a photo of Murray and realized that he was one of the individuals in the video camera footage inside the Häagen-Dazs store. Detective Joseph Bamberski assembled a photo array that included Murray’s photograph and showed it to Weisbrod, who positively identified Murray as the individual who had come to the door of the Häagen-Dazs store at the time of the shooting. N.T. Trial, 10/10/18, at 112, 116; N.T. Trial, 10/11/18, at 161-62; N.T. Trial, 10/15/18, at 81-87; N.T. Trial, 10/22/18, at 47.

On May 12, 2013, Detective Theodore Hagan interviewed Robinson, the man who rode with the victim in Weisbrod’s vehicle. Robinson told the detective that he had left the Copabanana Club after work with the victim, who dropped him off at his house in North Philadelphia at approximately 2:45 a.m. Robinson also told Detective Hagan that victim had been in a fight with someone on South Street. N.T. Trial, 10/15/18, at 43, 44, 49, 56.

Meanwhile, detectives continued to examine call records from Murray’s cell phone and learned that he had been in communication sixteen times on the night of the murder with a phone registered to Appellant, co-defendant Larry Nelson. N.T. Trial, 10/15/18, at 89.

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