Commonwealth v. Henry

39 Pa. D. & C.5th 491
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Montgomery County
DecidedJuly 18, 2014
DocketNo. CR-7724-12; 3559 EDA 2013
StatusPublished

This text of 39 Pa. D. & C.5th 491 (Commonwealth v. Henry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Montgomery County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Henry, 39 Pa. D. & C.5th 491 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2014).

Opinion

SMYTH, J.,

Michael Joseph Henry is not himself a “cop killer.” However, by heavily and repeatedly arming one, he contributed to a cop killing, if not in the strictly legal sense of an accomplice, then as a substantial factor, and his crimes led, predictably, to the death of one mourned by his family, community, and region and praised as one of our nation’s finest.

This is Henry’s appeal to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania from judgments of sentence totaling twenty to sixty-six years in prison imposed on him following his open pleas of guilty to charges arising from his acting as a “straw man” to illegally purchase nine firearms on behalf of a man Henry knew was not authorized to possess them. The man to whom Henry transferred the guns later ended up killing a police officer with one of them, as the man had warned Henry might happen. Henry’s appeal contests the total length and discretionary aspects of this lower court’s sentences.

Represented in this matter by the Montgomery County Public Defender, Henry pled guilty to the following crimes: [494]*494(A) nine counts of intentionally or knowingly making a materially false written statement in the purchase of a firearm under the Pennsylvania Uniform Firearms Act of 1995,18 Pa.C.S. § 6111(g)(4)(h), athird-degree felony for which the Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S. § 1103(3), prescribes a maximum sentence of seven years in prison; (B) seven counts of intentionally or knowingly transferring a firearm in violation of 18 Pa.C.S. § 6111(g)(1), a second-degree misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of two years in prison, 18 Pa.C.S. §1104(2); and (C) seven counts of unsworn falsification to authorities under 18 Pa.C.S. § 4904(b), a third-degree misdemeanor with a maximum of one year in prison, 18 Pa.C.S. § 1104(3). After accepting the pleas as knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently tendered, this court ordered presentence investigative reports under Pa.R.Crim.P. 702(A), (B) (Open Guilty Plea Tr. 25, Mar. 12, 2013) and upon receiving them from the County Probation/Parole Department in June 2013 set the case down for sentencing August 15, 2013.

On August 6, 2013, we notified the parties that due to the large crowd of people expected to attend the sentencing hearing, we had moved it from our regular courtroom in the Montgomery County Courthouse to a larger one, Courtroom “A.” No party registered an objection on the record, either before or at the sentencing proceeding, to its being held in Courtroom “A.”

At sentencing, the court commenced by asking if the parties had any objections or corrections to the psychiatric/ psychological evaluations (PPI) or to the presentence investigative report (PSI), the latter of which had attached to it copies of letters from the slain officer’s brother, mother, and widow. Without objection, we admitted the PSI into the record. (Sentencing Tr. 4, Aug. 15, 2013.)

[495]*495To outline for the Superior Court in narrative form basic undisputed facts and circumstances surrounding the case, we quote from the PSI (which itself quotes from the police affidavit of probable cause):

On Thursday, September 13,2012, at 5:16 PM, [o] fficers from the Plymouth Township Police Department were investigating a [three-vehicle] accident at 1215 East Ridge Pike in the Conshohocken section of Plymouth Township.
While conducting traffic control at the accident scene, Plymouth Township Police Officers observed [an Infiniti SUV] operated by the suspect [sic], Andrew Thomas, traveling eastbound at a high rate of speed on Ridge Pike. The vehicle was passing stopped traffic in the opposing lane of traffic.
At 5:42 PM, Plymouth Township Police Officer Bradley Fox, and assisting officers, followed the Infiniti SUV from Ridge Pike onto southbound Conshohocken Road. While travelling on Conshohocken Road, the Infiniti struck a [sedan]. Following this crash, Officer Fox observed that the Infiniti sedan [sic] travelled onto Ernest Station Road[,] where the suspect abandoned the vehicle. Officer Fox and his K9 partner pursued Thomas into an industrial area[,] where Thomas fired multiple gunshots at Officer Fox. Officer Fox was struck by gunfire and transported to Montgomery Hospital[,] where he was pronounced dead.
Plymouth Township Police Officers, assisted by responding law[-] enforcement officers, set up a perimeter and began to search the area for the perpetrator. During a K9 search of the area, the body of Andrew Thomas was discovered in a field adjacent [496]*496to Ernest Station Road. A Beretta 9mm [pjistol, serial number BER593388[,j was found next to his body.
The Montgomery County Detective Bureau initiated an investigation into the homicide of Officer Bradley Fox.
Montgomery County Detective John Finor, a member of the Forensic Services Unit and an expert in the field of [bjallistics and [fjirearms [ijnvestigation, processed the crime scene. Detective Finor recovered fired 9mm shell casings and fired bullets in proximity to the location where Officer Fox was mortally wounded and in the area where Andrew Thomases] body was found. Following ballistics examinations, Detective Finor opined that the recovered fired shell casings and fired bullets were consistent with being fired from the Beretta 9mm pistol bearing serial number BER593388 recovered next to Thomas[’s] body.
The Infiniti SUV was also searched during the crime scene investigation. Detectives examined the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and learned that the Infiniti was reported stolen on April 8, 2010, from an automobile dealership in Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County. No additional firearms were recovered during the search of the Infiniti SUV.
OnFriday, September 14,2012, Doctor Erica Williams, a [fjorensic [pjathologist, performed an autopsy on the body of Officer Bradley Fox. Following the autopsy, Doctor Williams opined that Officer Fox died as a result of a gunshot wound to the head and that the manner of death was homicide.
On Friday, September 14,2012, Doctor Erica Williams performed an autopsy on the body of Andrew Thomas. [497]*497Following the autopsy, Doctor Williams opined that Thomas died as a result of a gunshot wounds to the chest and that the manner of death was suicide.
On Friday, September 14, 2012, Montgomery County Detective Christopher Kuklentz interviewed Jeanette Thomas at 105 Grasmere Road, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, PA. Jeanette Thomas is the mother of Andrew Thomas. Jeanette Thomas told detectives that she resides with her son Andrew Thomas at 105 Grasmere Road. She said that she last saw Andrew Thomas in the afternoon of Thursday, September 13, 2012, when he left her home. Jeanette Thomas consented to a cursory search of the residence. During that search, detectives recovered a cellular phone[,] which Jeanette Thomas identified as being owned by her son Andrew.
On Friday, September 14, 2012, Lt. McGowan obtained the Montgomery County Adult Probation file of Andrew Thomas. The file revealed that Thomas listed his home address at 105 Grasmere Road, Bala Cynwyd, PA. Thomas was on [probation for a 2005 [fjorgery arrest by the Upper Merion Township Police Department.

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Bluebook (online)
39 Pa. D. & C.5th 491, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-henry-pactcomplmontgo-2014.