Commonwealth v. Abrue

11 A.3d 484, 2010 Pa. Super. 196, 2010 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3266
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 25, 2010
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 11 A.3d 484 (Commonwealth v. Abrue) 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
Commonwealth v. Abrue, 11 A.3d 484, 2010 Pa. Super. 196, 2010 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3266 (Pa. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

OPINION BY

DONOHUE, J.:

Anthony Abrue (“Abrue”) appeals from the judgment of sentence dated September 4, 2007 following his conviction on charges of simple assault [18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2701] and resisting arrest [18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 5104], In a prior memorandum decision, this Court denied all of the issues raised in Abrue’s direct appeal. After granting Abrue’s petition for allowance of appeal, however, our Supreme Court vacated this Court’s order insofar as it disposed of his contention that the trial court’s evidentiary decisions violated his constitutional rights under the Confrontation Clause in the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Our Supreme Court instructed that we consider on remand the Confrontation Clause claim in light of its decision in Commonwealth v. Allshouse, 604 Pa. 61, 985 A.2d 847 (2009). Having performed a review in light of AUshouse and the United States Supreme Court’s decisions from which it emanates, we reverse the judgment of sentence and remand to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this decision.

On May 9, 2007, while in a holding cell on charges unrelated to the current appeal, Abrue became engaged in an altercation with police officer Vincent Maroney (“Officer Maroney”). As a result of the incident, Abrue was charged with, inter alia, simple assault and resisting arrest.1 Abrue waived his right to a jury trial. At the bench trial, the Commonwealth presented a single witness, Officer Lee Ell-ingsworth (“Officer Ellingsworth”). In the Commonwealth’s case-in-chief, Officer Ell-ingsworth testified that he heard a commotion in the cell block area and went to [486]*486investigate, at which time he discovered his partner, Officer Maroney, being choked by Abrue. Notes of Testimony (“N.T.”), 9/4/07, at 9-10. Officer Ellingsworth further testified that he struck Abrue in the torso to free his partner from Abrue’s embrace, and that Abrue was then restrained and returned to the holding cell. Id. at 12. Neither officer sought medical attention for their injuries or missed any work as a result thereof. Id. On cross-examination, Officer Ellingsworth admitted that he did not see how the struggle between Officer Maroney and Abrue began. Id. at 13.

The Commonwealth rested its case, at which time Abrue took the stand to testify in his own behalf. Abrue testified that he asked Officer Maroney for a phone, but Officer Maroney refused to provide him with one and walked away. Id. at 16. Becoming upset, Abrue testified that he began rattling the bars of the holding cell. Id. According to Abrue, Officer Maroney returned and moved Abrue to another holding cell, at which time Abrue again demanded the use of a phone. Id. at 17. Abrue testified that Officer Maroney then said, “I’m not giving you no F-ing phone call, do you want me to kill you?,” and proceeded to punch Abrue in the left eye with a closed fist. Id. at 18-19. Abrue contended that in self-defense he grabbed Officer Mai’oney’s hands and the two began to tussle in the cell until Officer Ell-ingsworth arrived and both officers then proceeded to beat him. Id. at 19. Abrue denied that he ever struck Officer Maro-ney or put his hands around the officer’s neck. Id. at 19. Abrue testified that he suffered bruises to the face and shoulder, but was not offered medical treatment. Id. at 20.

At the conclusion of Abrue’s testimony, his counsel moved for immediate dismissal of the charges on the ground that Abrue had asserted a claim of self-defense and that the Commonwealth (with the burden of proof) had no witness to rebut it (since Officer Ellingsworth admitted that he did not see how the altercation began). Id. at 27. Over defense counsel’s objections, the trial court permitted the Commonwealth to recall Officer Ellingsworth as a rebuttal witness to testify regarding what Officer Maroney told him about the start of the fight. Id. at 28. After the trial court permitted both counsel to question Officer Ellingsworth regarding the circumstances of the exchange between the two officers, the trial court ruled that Officer Marone/s statements were excited utterances and thus admissible pursuant to Pa.R.E. 803(2). Id. at 36. Officer Ellingsworth then testified, again over defense counsel’s objection, as follows:

Q. Officer Ellingsworth, what did Officer Maroney tell you happened pri- or to you getting there?
A. He told me that [Abrue] was in another cell shaking the ventilation ducts. He’s reaching up and pulling on the ducts, trying to rip them down. What he was trying to do was move him from one cell to another cell that had the plastic on it so he couldn’t do no damage to any of the city property, to the ventilation system.
Q. Did he tell you what happened when he was moving him from another cell to the cell?
A. He just said he turned and the guy — he had him and grabbed him and he was escorting him to cell two. At this time [Abrue] just turned' around and started punching on him.
Q. Did he say at that point when the choking started in relation to the punching?

[487]*487A. I don’t recall.

Id. at 36-37.

At the conclusion of Officer Ellings-worth’s rebuttal testimony, the trial court found Abrue guilty of simple assault and resisting arrest and sentenced him to one to two years of imprisonment for each conviction, with the sentences to run concurrently. Id. at 39, 41-42. In a timely appeal, Abrue raised three issues for this court’s review: (1) whether the trial court erred in holding that Officer Ellings-worth’s hearsay account of how the fight started was admissible under the excited utterance exception to the Pennsylvania Rules of Evidence, Pa.R.E. 803(2); (2) whether the trial court’s decision to permit Officer Ellingsworth to describe Officer Maroney’s version of events, in the absence of any testimony from Officer Maro-ney, violated Abrue’s rights under the Confrontation Clause; and (3) whether the Commonwealth’s evidence was sufficient to rebut his claim of self-defense. This Court found in favor of the Commonwealth on all three issues and affirmed the trial court’s judgment of sentence. Commonwealth v. Abrue, 964 A.2d 427 (Pa.Super.2008) (unpublished memorandum decision).

Abrue filed a petition for allowance of appeal with our Supreme Court. By per euriam order dated April 7, 2010, the Supreme Court vacated our October 15, 2008 memorandum “insofar as it disposed of Petitioner’s challenge to his judgment of sentence on Confrontation Clause grounds” and remanded Abrue’s appeal to this Court “for reconsideration in light of Commonwealth v. Allshouse, [604 Pa. 61, 985 A.2d 847 (2009) ].” The Supreme Court denied Abrue’s petition for allowance of appeal in all other respects, and therefore our prior determinations with regard to the admission of hearsay testimony and the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions are not at issue here on remand. Our review of the Confrontation Clause issue presents us with a question of law, and thus our standard of review is plenary and our scope of review is de novo. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Liston, 602 Pa. 10, 15,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
11 A.3d 484, 2010 Pa. Super. 196, 2010 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3266, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-abrue-pasuperct-2010.