Commonwealth v. Bubna

53 A.2d 104, 357 Pa. 51, 1947 Pa. LEXIS 403
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 24, 1947
DocketAppeal, 51
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 53 A.2d 104 (Commonwealth v. Bubna) 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 v. Bubna, 53 A.2d 104, 357 Pa. 51, 1947 Pa. LEXIS 403 (Pa. 1947).

Opinion

Opinion by

Mr. Chief Justice Maxey,

This is an appeal of Mike Bubna from a conviction of murder in the first degree with the death penalty imposed. His sister, Mrs. Mildred Thomas, was at the same trial convicted of the same murder in the same degree, with life imprisonment imposed as punishment. The defendants did not demand separate trials.

Robert Fisher, aged 35 years, of Erie, Pa., was murdered on March 4,1946. Two days afterwards his body, covered with leaves and some dirt, was found in a little ravine near the Erie Golf Club. An empty .25 caliber automatic pistol was found nearby. Fisher’s nose was broken, his teeth knocked out, his eyes blackened, his body bruised, and all marks of identification had been removed from his clothing. A medical examination disclosed that he had five fatal bullets in his head. These three persons were charged with Fisher’s murder: Mike Bubna, Mrs. Mildred Thomas, and Mike Dominic.

The last named was the Commonwealth’s chief witness. He testified that a little before 7 P. M. on March 4, 1946, he went to the house of Mrs. Thomas at 1212 West 26th St., Erie, Pa., and found Bubna and Fisher there. Mrs. Thomas was in bed and in her bedroom he met Pauline Nasser, who was Mrs. Thomas’ sister, and also Mrs. Nasser’s husband, James. A girl by the name of Eleanor Tarbell, described as the “sweetheart of Mike Dominic” was also in the house. About 7:30 P. M. Fisher left; he returned about 9:15 P. M. or 9:30 P. M. There was an argument between Fisher and Bubna, each characterizing the other as being a “double-crosser”; the mutual charges were that each had appropriated the proceeds of one or more stolen cars. Fisher and Bubna and Stoynoff had, since the fall of 1945, been partners in the successfully executed criminal plan of stealing automobiles, taking them to Maine and there paying an excise tax, and with the tax receipt securing a Maine registration card and automobile license. They then took the cars to other states and disposed of them. Mrs. *54 Thomas participated' in a minor way in the criminal enterprise and shared to a small degree in its profits.

After Fisher returned to Mrs. Thomas’ home on the night of March 4th, he and Dominic did most of the drinking and Fisher reached “an advanced stage of intoxication”. He “sat in a chair and, rolled his head around.” Mrs. Thomas then told Eleanor Tarbell to get a pair of shears as they were “going to play a joke on Robert Fisher.” The shears' were produced and Mrs. Thomas closely clipped some of Fisher’s hair from the top and near the front of his head, saying as she did so, “We are going to make him the laughing stock of Erie.” Mrs. Thomas then “went into the bathroom and got a razor . and started shaving Bob Fisher’s eyebrows.” Dominic asked, “What are you doing that for?” Mrs. Thomas replied, “Because they won’t identify him.” Bubna said: “This will be an example for Stoynoff; I don’t like double-crossers.” Bubna then struck Fisher “a slap or a punch” in his face and called him a “double-crosser” and told Eleanor Tarbell to “get out of the kitchen” because “the whole thing was going to be messy.” Mike Bubna took the razor from Mrs. Thomas and dragged Fisher out of the kitchen and down into the cellar. Dominic remained in the kitchen and consumed a few more drinks. A little later Bubna “hollered” to “Mike” to come down the cellar. Dominic did not do so. Bubna then called Dominic “in a furious manner” to come down. He went down and saw Bubna “kicking and punching” Robert Fisher. Bubna then took some white cloth hanging on a line in the cellar, wrapped it around the gun, and fired some shots. Dominic went upstairs and drank some more liquor. He said he saw while in the cellar “feet and a dark dress” and he “thought they belonged to Mildred Thomas.” Mike Bubna called him downstairs again and when he went down he saw Mildred Thomas cutting Fisher’s hair and letting it fall in a newspaper.' This hair she destroyed. Bubna rolled Fisher over and the witness saw. Mrs. *55 Thomas reach into, his [Fisher’s] back pocket, take ont a wallet, look through it and then throw it into the furnace. She also removed Fisher’s stockings. Dominic asked her what she was doing that for and she replied : “So you don’t find any identifications.” He said Mike Bubna then pointed the gun at him and asked him to “get rid of the body”. He and Bubna then carried the body upstairs and put it in Bubna’s car. Bubna then said: “Noav you get rid of that.” Mike Dominic drove to a point near the Erie Golf Club, dragged Fisher’s body out of the car, covered it with leaves and mud and tossed the gun away. Two days later both the gun and the body Avere found by boys, who notified the State Police. This gun was identified by Lieutenant White-cotton, a ballistic expert, as the gun which discharged five bullets into Fisher’s head. On the return journey the car got stuck in the mud and Dominic secured a ride into the city and informed Bubna of the situation. He and Bubna then returned to the car and enlisted the services of Carmen Pruvedenti. The latter was unable to extricate the car from the mud, and Bubna and Dominic then decided to engage an auto wrecker. Bubna returned home and Dominic got the Poplar Auto Wreckers and the latter were able to get the car out of the mud. Pruvedenti testified as to seeing Bubna with Dominic near the car Avhieli was stuck in the mud.

When Dominic returned to the Thomas home he was told by Bubna that “everything is cleaned up.” Mrs. Thomas said to him: “You better change those clothes.” The clothes were muddy. She later told him that she had taken the clothes down to the cellar and burned them. Mrs. Thomas and Dominic then went out and looked at the car. There was blood on both running boards and on Fisher’s coat and jacket in the back seat. Mrs. Thomas said: “You better take it down to the cellar and burn it.” Mrs. Thomas also advised him to wash the car. She and Eleanor Tarbell handed him the hose. Mrs. Thomas said; “Better make up a story that we all stayed *56 in this house and never left it.” Bubna gave Dominic thirty dollars and some clothes and he [Dominic] and Miss Tarbell left for Florida. They were subsequently arrested in Savannah, Georgia.

Blanche Horst Fisher, the wife of the victim, who stated that at the time of the murder she “was not living” with her husband but was “on friendly terms with him”, testified the last time she saw her husband was about 9 P. M., March 4,1946, at her home at 133 West 8th St. He had come there at 8:15 P. M. and at that time “he had been drinking quite heavily”. During the 45 minutes he passed at her home, he called Mike Bubna on the telephone and she heard him say, “There is nobody going to double-cross Fish. You told me that last car was wrecked. I know it wasn’t. I want my money and I am coming up and get it.” Fisher then called a taxicab driver and said “he was going to 1212 West 26th Street.” Fisher then called Mike Bubna again and said: “Hello, Mike. I am going up in fifteen minutes and I am going to have two witnesses when I leave here that I am going up there and I am not afraid of you.” Fisher left the house shortly after 9 o’clock. Before he left he said to his wife, “If I am not back within two hours call at 1212, find out where I am or else send my brother up when he comes home from work.

Despite Fisher’s declaration as to his not

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53 A.2d 104, 357 Pa. 51, 1947 Pa. LEXIS 403, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-bubna-pa-1947.