Commonwealth v. Dawson

132 A.3d 996, 2015 Pa. Super. 256, 2015 WL 8190684, 2015 Pa. Super. LEXIS 804
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 8, 2015
Docket3498 EDA 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 132 A.3d 996 (Commonwealth v. Dawson) 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. Dawson, 132 A.3d 996, 2015 Pa. Super. 256, 2015 WL 8190684, 2015 Pa. Super. LEXIS 804 (Pa. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION BY

MUNDY, J.:

Appellant, Staci Dawson, appeals from the November 12, 2014 aggregate judgment of sentence of 71$ to 143 months’ imprisonment, followed by 84 months’ probation, imposed after she was found guilty of two counts each of sale or transfer of firearms and criminal conspiracy, and one count of filing a false report. 1 After careful review, we affirm.

The trial court summarized the relevant factual history of this case as follows.

On. February 13, 2013, [Appellant] completed a Firearms Transaction Record Form and purchased a .40 Caliber Smith & Wesson pistol at Miller’s Sporting Goods in Linwood, Pennsylvania. She returned to Miller’s Sporting Goods and purchased a second firearm, a Kel-Tec 9 mm. pistol, on February 27, 2013.
On March 5, 2013[,] Patrol Corporal William Carey executed a traffic stop in the City of Chester. The vehicle was stopped after a brief chase that ended when the fleeing vehicle crashed into a van. The vehicle that was the subject of that traffic stop was driven by [Appellant’s boyfriend, David Colon. Shámar Atkinson was a passenger in the vehicle. Both of these men were known felons. Colon was found in possession of suspected cocaine and Atkinson had the fully loaded Kel-Tec 9 mm. pistol, serial number R7921 that [Appellant] pur *999 chased on February 27, 2018 tucked in his waistband. Both men were arrested.
In the course of an unrelated criminal investigation!;,] Detective Robert Ly-thgoe of the Delaware County Criminal •Investigation Division went to Miller’s Sporting Goods looking for the names of recent purchasers of 9 mm. handguns. He learned there that [Appellant] purchased a 9 mm. handgun on February 27, 2013. On March 7, [2013,] he went to her reported address, 2018 West Fourth Street in Chester, Pennsylvania to see whether [Appellant’s 9 mm. gun was the gun involved in the unrelated incident. [Appellant] was not at the residence. Her mother told the detective that [Appellant] no longer lived at that address and that she lived with her father. At about 4:00 p,m.[,], Detective Lythgoe went to the father’s address and inquired into the whereabouts of the pistol that she purchased on February 27th. [Appellant] stated that the pistol was at her mother’s home and that she was unable to retrieve it at that tune. Later that evening, at about 7:00 p.m.[, Appellant] called Detective Lythgoe and reported that the gun 'was missing from her mother’s house and, “[t]he only thing she could think of was that her boyfriend (David Colon) may have stolen the firearm.” [Appellant] did not mention the second gun, the Smith & Wesson that she purchased on February 13th. At this point[,] Detective Lythgoe did not know that [Appellant] owned two guns.
On March 8 & 9, 2013[,] David Colon called [Appellant] several times from the George' Hill Correctional Facility (GHCF). Detective David Tyler of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division secured these tapes after he learned that David Colon was in GHCF and that Shamar Atkinson was arrested while in possession of [Appellant]^ Kel-Tec 9 mm. handgun.' Portions of the recorded conversations were played for the jury and associated transcripts were entered into, evidence. In the course of these conversations^ Appellant] tells Colon about Detective Lythgoe’s March 7th visit and inquiry, that detectives were looking for a gun and that she thought “one of them” was probably used in the commission of a crime. Colon instructed Appellant] to, “just tell them I don’t know maybe my boyfriend, maybe one of his friends, maybe somebody stole it ... All you can tell them is ... is somebody took that [jawn]— somebody took them [jawn].” Colon t[old Appellant], “once'they got the little black — once they type it in, everything going to pop up you see what I’m saying, what you got in your name, you see what I’m saying.” Colon t[old Appellant] not to go to'the police until they talk again. In another call[, Appellant] t[old] Colon that authorities told her to report the missing firearm: “Yeah, he said go over there and file a — an incident report or whatever. But I — I don’t know which one like.... They didn’t ever say which one. So I just gotta go over there and file both.” During a third eall[,] Cóloh ask[ed Appellant] if she [had] gone to the police station. She replie[d] that she [had not] gone yet. [Appellant told] Colon that Atkinson’s girlfriend asked her to come to the preliminary hearing to help “Shamar” and that she is going to say that she forgot the gun and left it in the car. Colon responded]: “NO — be no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no man. But you don’t — you—no baby — no, no, no,.[ ], no, no, no, no,' no, no, ho, no, no.... No they can’t go around like that because you don’t got no license — you don’t got no license to drive, or to' carry like so -it — you' was — nah babe no,- no. That’s *1000 going.” [Appellant tpld] Colon that she doesn’t know what to do when she goes to “the station” and Colon [said], repeatedly “I mean you got tell’em you ain’t — if you can’t find, ’em you can’t find’em,” and instructed] her to filed a report “for both” because her name will be in the system, suggesting that the existence of a second gun will be discovered.
. On March 12, 2013[, Appellant] reported two firearms missing from her mother’s residence, 2018 West Fourth Street, Chester. Officer Doug Staffel-bach took the report. [Appellant] reported that she discovered that both of the guns were missing on March 7, 2013. She described the missing firearms as a “little 9” and a “dock.” The transaction record she offered however indicated that she had purchased a Smith & Wesson. [Appellant] said that her mother’s home had been burglarized and that there were burglaries in the area so she purchased the guns for her own protection. After investigating, Officer Staf-felbaeh found no reported burglaries in the area during the relevant time period.
Detective Tyler testified that he was initially assigned to this investigation after Detective Lythgoe reported that a [9 mm.] handgun that was used in the .unrelated investigation was connected to [Appellant] and that she suggested that David Colon may have stolen it. Detective Tyler went. to Miller’s Sporting Goods and got a copy of the Firearms Transaction form for the February 27th purchase. On March. 13, 2013[,] he contacted [Appellant] at her father’s house and asked if she would speak with him about the gun that was found in Atkinson’s possession. She agreed and followed Detective Tyler to the Chester Police Department where she gave a statement in which she discussed her purchase of the 9 mm. handgun and stated that she last saw it in the basement of her mother’s house on March 3rd. She knew it was “PF 9” but did not know the caliber or make or model of this firearm and did not know what type of bullets it took. At no time during the interview did [Appellant] tell Detective Tyler that not one, but two firearms, • had gone missing from her mother’s basement and that she reported both missing the previous day. Detective Tyler learned that [Appellant] reported a second gun missing and after listening to the prison tape recordings he returned to Miller’s in May and obtained the Transaction Form for the February 13th purchase.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
132 A.3d 996, 2015 Pa. Super. 256, 2015 WL 8190684, 2015 Pa. Super. LEXIS 804, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-dawson-pasuperct-2015.