Commonwealth v. Castro

93 A.3d 818, 625 Pa. 582, 2014 WL 2722742, 2014 Pa. LEXIS 1515
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 16, 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by175 cases

This text of 93 A.3d 818 (Commonwealth v. Castro) 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. Castro, 93 A.3d 818, 625 Pa. 582, 2014 WL 2722742, 2014 Pa. LEXIS 1515 (Pa. 2014).

Opinions

OPINION

Justice EAKIN.

In this appeal, we are asked to determine whether a newspaper article submitted as the sole support for a motion for new trial on the basis of after-discovered evidence warrants the grant of a hearing. Finding allegations in an article do not constitute evidence, we reverse the Superi- or Court’s order remanding for a hearing on appellee’s after-discovered evidence claim.

Trial testimony established that on March 11, 2008, Officer Richard Cujdik of the Philadelphia Narcotics Field Unit gave pre-recorded money to a confidential informant (CI-142), who entered appellee’s home to purchase drugs. CI-142 spoke with Yvette Torres at the door, went inside, and returned a few minutes later with two clear, red-lidded jars of PCP. Officer Cujdik used this transaction as probable cause in an application for a search warrant, which was issued and executed later that day. Officer Cujdik stationed himself at the rear of the property while other officers knocked on the front door. After the knock, Officer Cujdik saw appellee run out the back door and toss a clear plastic baggie into the neighboring yard. While other officers apprehended appellee, Officer Cujdik retrieved the baggie, which contained five clear glass jars of PCP, two of which had red lids like those purchased earlier by CI-142.

Appellee was arrested and charged with knowing and intentional possession of a controlled substance,1 possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance (PWID),2 and conspiracy with Torres to commit PWID.3 At appellee’s bench trial, the Commonwealth presented Officer Cu-jdik’s testimony, money seized from Torres, and the drugs. The trial court found appellee guilty of conspiracy and possession of a controlled substance, but not guilty of PWID. Appellee was sentenced to six to 23 months imprisonment followed by two years probation for conspiracy, and a concurrent six to 23 months imprisonment and one year of probation for possession.

[820]*820On March 30, 2009, four days after the trial, the Philadelphia Daily News published an article alleging police misconduct by Officer Cujdik, his brother (also a narcotics officer), and other officers during a raid of a convenience store in 2007. In the article, the store’s owner alleged the officers entered his business to execute a search warrant and confiscated the store’s surveillance cameras, which they claimed contained evidence he was selling drug paraphernalia.4 According to the owner, the officers cut the wires to the cameras, confiscated them, and stole $10,000 in cash as well as cigarettes and other inventory; the article averred the property receipt the officers filed reported a fraction of that amount of cash, and the cameras were not listed on the receipt. The article further indicated the owner recovered ten minutes of video footage from a back-up surveillance system, which showed the officers cutting the wires to a camera. No footage showed the alleged looting of the store. The article stated Officer Cujdik’s affidavit for the warrant averred that a confidential informant5 purchased drug paraphernalia at the store two and a half hours before the raid, and alleged that video from this time period did not show anyone purchasing such items.

The article also stated Officer Cujdik’s brother was the subject of federal and local investigations stemming from allegations he lied on search warrants to gain access to suspected drug homes and became too close with his informants. The article indicated eight other convenience store owners said the same officers disabled their stores’ video cameras, stole inventory, and confiscated cash without reporting the full amount on the property receipt, and stated when this information was published in an earlier article on March 20, six more store owners, including the one featured in the instant article, contacted the reporter and described similar incidents.

Appellee filed a post-sentence motion for a new trial on the basis of after-discovered evidence based solely on the newspaper article that stated Officer Cujdik was under investigation for corruption and falsification of evidence in another case involving the same confidential informant. The motion stated:

1. [Appellee] was arrested on March 11, 2008 by Philadelphia Police Officer Richard Cudjik[6] badge number 3262 and charged with PWID, [conspiracy and [k]nowing and [i]ntentional [possession.
2. On March 26, 2009 this [c]ourt sitting without a jury found [appellee] guilty of [c]onspiracy as to the PWID charge and of [k]nowing and [i]ntentional [possession while finding him not guilty of PWID.
3. On that date prior to trial, counsel was not aware that [OJfficer Cudjik was under investigation for among other things improper use of Confidential Informant 112.
4. This case involves information from the use of Confidential Informant 112 as probable cause to obtain a search warrant.
5. Subsequent to the date of trial on March SO, 2009, the Philadelphia Daily News published an article (copy attached as Exhibit A) detailing an untruthful affidavit based on information [821]*821supposedly given to [OJjficer Cudjik by Confidential Informant # 1J.2 as to sales of paraphernalia at a store owned by one Jose Moran at 7301 N. 20th Street. That affidavit alleges a sale at h:30 p.m. on September 11, 2007 whereas a viewing of the video tape for the period between k'-00 o’clock and 5:00 o’clock P.M. in the store shows no such sale.
6. The facts adduced at trial do not show that [appellee] was in the house at the time a sale was made to the informant but only that he was present some five hours later at the time the search warrant was executed.
7. Therefore the conspiracy would not go to the PWID charge but rather, if at all to the possession charge.
WHEREFORE [appellee] requests that he be [g]ranted a [n]ew [t]rial on
[k]nowing and [i]ntentional [possession and [conspiracy as to [k]nowing and [i]ntentional [possession only.

Posi^Sentence Motion, 6/24/09, at 1-2 (emphasis added).

Following a brief hearing, the trial court denied appellee’s motion for a new trial. Appellee filed a notice of appeal, and in its Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion, the trial court explained appellee had not met the requirements for a new trial on the basis of after-discovered evidence: “Although the proposed evidence satisfies some of the prongs required for a new trial, the evidence lacks a purpose for admission independent from impeaching the credibility of the officer.”7 Trial Court Opinion, 5/17/10, at 9. A divided panel of the Superior Court vacated appellee’s judgment of sentence and remanded for an evidentiary hearing. See Commonwealth v. Castro, 2011 WL 2517017 (Pa.Super. June 24, 2011) (withdrawn). The Commonwealth petitioned, for reargument en banc, which was granted, and the prior panel decision was withdrawn.

In a 5-4 decision, the Superior Court again vacated appellee’s conviction and remanded for an evidentiary hearing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
93 A.3d 818, 625 Pa. 582, 2014 WL 2722742, 2014 Pa. LEXIS 1515, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-castro-pa-2014.