Commonwealth, Aplt. v. Hoover, J.

107 A.3d 723, 630 Pa. 599, 2014 Pa. LEXIS 3487
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 30, 2014
Docket18 WAP 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by79 cases

This text of 107 A.3d 723 (Commonwealth, Aplt. v. Hoover, J.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth, Aplt. v. Hoover, J., 107 A.3d 723, 630 Pa. 599, 2014 Pa. LEXIS 3487 (Pa. 2014).

Opinions

OPINION

Chief Justice CASTILLE.

The Commonwealth appeals from a Superior Court Order vacating appellee’s judgment of sentence for theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, criminal conspiracy, and corruption of minors,1 and remanding for a new trial. The Superior Court panel concluded that the trial court abused its discretion in determining that the probative value of appellee’s prior crime of dishonesty (crimen falsi) substantially outweighed its prejudicial effect. For the following reasons, we reverse the order below and remand for the Superior Court to consider appellee’s remaining claim regarding appellee’s proposed alibi testimony.

I.

On April 20, 2012, the Commonwealth filed a criminal complaint against appellee alleging that on April 4, 2012, appellee and two co-conspirators, Barry Martell and D.M., a juvenile, stole parts and equipment from RES Coal Company in Goshen Township, Clearfield County, and later sold the stolen parts to a local salvage yard. On October 4, 2012, appellee filed a motion in limine seeking to preclude the Commonwealth from impeaching him with evidence of his 1998 crimen falsi conviction which resulted from appellee’s guilty plea, at twenty-two years of age, to a single third-degree felony count of receiving stolen property. Acknowledging the [604]*604specific list of five factors reiterated by this Court in Commonwealth v. Randall, 515 Pa. 410, 528 A.2d 1826 (1987), to be considered in determining whether remote crimen falsi adjudications — i.e., those that are more than ten years old — are admissible as more probative than prejudicial, the trial court found that the balance of those factors weighed in favor of admitting appellee’s single crimen falsi conviction for impeachment purposes. Specifically, the trial court considered:

(1) the degree to which the commission of the prior offense reflects upon the veracity of the defendant-witness; (2) the likelihood, in view of the nature and extent of the prior record, that it would have a greater tendency to smear the character of the defendant and suggest a propensity to commit the crime for which he stands charged, rather than provide a legitimate reason for discrediting him as an untruthful person; [ (]3) the age and circumstances of the defendant; [ (]4) the strength of the prosecution’s case and the prosecution’s need to resort to this evidence as compared with the availability to the defense of other witnesses through which its version of the events surrounding the incident can be presented; and [ (]5) the existence of alternative means of attacking the defendant’s credibility.

Id. at 1328 (quoting Commonwealth v. Roots, 482 Pa. 33, 393 A.2d 364, 367 (1978), abrogated in part as stated in Commonwealth v. Rivera, 603 Pa. 340, 983 A.2d 1211 (2009)). The trial court determined that factors one, three, four, and five weighed in favor of the Commonwealth, enhancing the probative value of appellee’s crimen falsi conviction, while only the second factor weighed in appellee’s favor, increasing the potential improper prejudicial impact of appellee’s prior conviction. With this analysis, the trial court denied appellee’s motion in limine.

At trial, D.M., testifying for the Commonwealth, stated that appellee was involved in the theft and that D.M., Martell and appellee had all agreed to steal the items and sell them for cash. Appellee then took the stand in his own defense in support of a claim of total innocence, stating that he was unaware of the theft, and that Martell and D.M. stole the [605]*605items without his knowledge or participation. At the close of his testimony, and in the presence of the jury, the prosecutor asked the trial court to take judicial notice of appellee’s prior crimen falsi conviction. N.T., 10/22/12, at 201.2

Thereafter, the parties proceeded immediately to closing arguments. Appellee’s counsel did not address appellee’s prior crimen falsi conviction during his closing, but instead, counsel vigorously attacked D.M.’s credibility, employing no unusual points of impeachment. Thus, counsel argued that D.M. was not telling the truth, that his testimony was from a corrupt and polluted source, and that it should be received with great caution because D.M. had an interest in the outcome of the case, having admitted to being a thief and being involved in the crime at issue. Id. at 206, 210. In a similar attempt to persuade the jury not to accept appellee’s testimony, the prosecutor made use of appellee’s prior conviction in his closing argument as follows:

I argue to you that, you know, who’s telling the truth and who’s being factually correct and honest with you people is an issue for [you to] decide, but after the [Commonwealth — or, after the defendant testified, the [Commonwealth introduced a prior conviction of the defendant for a crime called receiving stolen property.
And I offered that, or am allowed to offer that, to you because receiving stolen property’s called a crimen falsi, a crime of dishonesty. So I don’t say, hey, the defendant was convicted of receiving stolen property in the past; therefore, he must have done it this time. I say to you that the defendant was convicted in the past of a crime of dishonesty so, therefore, you can consider that when you decide who’s telling the truth, who’s being honest or dishonest.

Id. at 232. Appellee lodged no objection to the prosecutor’s argument.

Immediately following closing arguments, the court issued its jury instructions, which included its instruction regarding [606]*606the treatment of appellee’s prior crimen falsi conviction. The court stated:

Now, there was evidence here tending to show that the defendant has a prior criminal conviction. And I’m talking about the record introduced by the [C]ommonwealth as to his prior conviction of receiving stolen property, all right.
Note that this evidence about that prior conviction from 1998 is not evidence of the defendant’s guilt. You must not infer guilt from the evidence of that prior conviction. This evidence may be considered by you for one purpose only. That is, to help you judge the credibility and weight of the testimony given by the defendant as a witness in this trial.
So in considering the evidence of that prior conviction, you may consider the type of crime committed and how long ago it was committed, and how it may affect the likelihood that the defendant has testified truthfully in this case.

Id. at 246-47. Neither party objected to this instruction.

Following trial, the jury found appellee guilty of theft by unlawful taking, receiving stolen property, criminal conspiracy and corruption of minors. The trial court later sentenced appellee to an aggregate term of twenty-one to sixty months of imprisonment, and appellee appealed to the Superior Court.

On appeal, appellee raised two evidentiary issues: he claimed that the trial court abused its discretion in admitting his prior crimen falsi conviction, and in prohibiting the testimony of appellee’s alibi witness. Addressing the

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
107 A.3d 723, 630 Pa. 599, 2014 Pa. LEXIS 3487, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-aplt-v-hoover-j-pa-2014.