Commonwealth v. Galloway

640 A.2d 454, 433 Pa. Super. 222, 1994 Pa. Super. LEXIS 972
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 12, 1994
Docket1997
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 640 A.2d 454 (Commonwealth v. Galloway) 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. Galloway, 640 A.2d 454, 433 Pa. Super. 222, 1994 Pa. Super. LEXIS 972 (Pa. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinions

[224]*224POPOVICH, Judge.

This is an appeal from the order of the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County which dismissed appellant’s petition for post-conviction relief filed pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act, 42 Pa.C.S.A §§ 9541 et seq. On March 29, 1977, appellant was convicted of murder in the first degree in the slaying of Daniel Gebhard and murder in the first degree as a principal in the second degree in the death of Barry Kimmet. We affirm appellant’s conviction in the death of Barry Kimmet, but we reverse his conviction for the murder of Daniel Gebhard and remand for a new trial.

Herein, appellant contends that he is entitled to a new trial. He argues that the lower court erred in refusing to apply retroactively Commonwealth v. Nazarovitch, 496 Pa. 97, 436 A.2d 170 (1981), which bars the admission of hypnotically-induced testimony. See, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9543(a)(2)(i). Appellant also contends that he is entitled to post-conviction relief because he was not informed prior to trial that the Commonwealth’s key-witness was hypnotized and such information would have affected the outcome of the trial. See, 42 Pa. C.S.A. § 9543(a)(2)(vi). Finally, appellant argues that the Commonwealth violated Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), which requires the Commonwealth to disclose all material, exculpatory evidence, since the Commonwealth failed to disclose that its key witness’ recollection was hypnotically-refreshed prior to trial. See, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9543(a)(2)(i).

The record reveals that on August 2, 1969, Daniel Gebhard and Barry Kimmet were slain in related drive-by shootings. Those shootings were the result of racial unrest in the city of Lancaster.1 Appellant and numerous other black persons traveled in at least two vehicles to the area of Bleacher’s Cafe, where certain white persons who allegedly threatened other black persons, were said to be waiting to fight. At trial, appellant admitted to being in the one of the automobiles when the men were shot. However, he denied having pos[225]*225sessed or shot a weapon during the incidents. Nevertheless, appellant was convicted of shooting Daniel Gebhard in the head with a high-powered rifle. He was also convicted of aiding and abetting his brother, Lorenzo Galloway, who shot Barry Kimmet in the head with a high-powered rifle.

The Commonwealth presented the testimony of Dorothy Easley who was driving one of the two vehicles which participated in the shootings. She testified that she saw appellant lean out of the front passenger window of the other vehicle with a rifle in his hand, take aim and shoot. She also testified that afterwards, she heard appellant say to his brother Lorenzo that “I got one, and you got the other.”

It is important to note that the shootings took place almost eight years prior to the trial. That fact is significant because appellant only recently became aware that Dorothy Easley was hypnotized prior to trial to refresh her recollection of the long-past event. The Commonwealth acknowledges that Ms. Easley was hypnotized approximately six months prior to trial by John B. Shenk. However, the Commonwealth avers it possesses no other information concerning the event. It is undisputed that neither appellant nor his counsel was informed of the hypnosis prior to trial.2

First, we will address appellant’s contention that he is entitled to a new trial because the Commonwealth introduced the testimony of Dorothy Easley whose recollection of the events of August 2, 1969, were hypnotically refreshed prior to trial. Appellant correctly notes that in Commonwealth v. Nazarovitch 496 Pa. 97, 436 A.2d 170 (1981), our Supreme Court held that a witness’ hypnotically-refreshed testimony was properly excluded where the witness had no recollection of the facts which would have been the subject of the testimony prior to the hypnosis. Our Supreme Court again rejected the use of hypnotically-induced testimony in Commonwealth v. [226]*226Smoyer, 505 Pa. 83, 476 A.2d 1304 (1984). See also, Commonwealth v. DiNicola, 348 Pa.Super. 405, 502 A.2d 606 (1985), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1028, 108 S.Ct. 755, 98 L.Ed.2d 768 (1988); Commonwealth v. Reed, 400 Pa.Super. 207, 583 A,2d 459 (1990), allocatur denied, 528 Pa. 629, 598 A.2d 282 (1991); Commonwealth v. McCabe, 303 Pa.Super. 245, 449 A.2d 670 (1982).3

Despite the fact that hypnotically-refreshed testimony is generally not admissible, appellant is not entitled to post-conviction relief on the basis of the rule of evidence set forth in Nazarovitch, supra. “[A] new rule of law to which we give retroactive effect, will not be applied to any case on collateral review unless that decision was handed down during the pendency of an appellant’s direct appeal and the issue was properly preserved there, or, as here, is non-waivable.” Commonwealth v. Gillespie, 512 Pa. 349, 355, 516 A.2d 1180, 1183 (1986). See also, Teague v. Lane, 489 U.S. 288, 109 S.Ct. 1060, 103 L.Ed.2d 334 (1989) (setting forth the federal rule for retroactive application of new law in collateral proceedings); Commonwealth v. Melilli, 521 Pa. 405, 555 A.2d 1254 (1989) (applying Gillespie); Commonwealth v. Riggins, 374 Pa.Super. 243, 255, 542 A.2d 1004, 1010 (1988), allocatur denied, 522 Pa. 583, 559 A.2d 527 (1989) (applying Gillespie and citing cases). Nazarovitch, supra, was decided by our Supreme Court on October 29, 1981, and appellant’s conviction became final when our Supreme Court affirmed his judgment of sentence on September 24, 1981. See, Commonwealth v. Galloway, 495 Pa. 535, 434 A.2d 1220 (1981). Thus, appellant is not entitled to post-conviction collateral relief since his criminal judgment was final prior to the Supreme Court’s [227]*227decision to exclude hypnotically-influenced testimony from admission at trial.4

Appellant also claims that he is entitled to a new trial because the recently-discovered evidence of Ms. Easley’s hypnosis constituted “exculpatory evidence [unavailable at the time of trial] that has subsequently become available and that would have affected the outcome of the trial if it had been introduced.” 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9543(a)(2)(vi). To be entitled to a new trial on the basis of after discovered evidence, appellant must establish, “that the evidence was discovered after trial and could not have been obtained at trial by reasonable diligence, that it is not cumulative or of such a nature that it merely impeaches credibility, and that it would be likely to compel a different result.” Commonwealth v. Conley, 232 Pa.Super. 432, 335 A.2d 721, 722 (1975) (applying identical language of the now-repealed Post Conviction Hearing Act). See also, Commonwealth v. Favinger, 358 Pa.Super. 245, 250, 516 A.2d 1386, 1389 (1986), allocatur denied, 516 Pa. 612, 531 A.2d 779 (1987).

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Commonwealth v. Galloway
640 A.2d 454 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
640 A.2d 454, 433 Pa. Super. 222, 1994 Pa. Super. LEXIS 972, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-galloway-pasuperct-1994.