Commonwealth v. Howard

64 A.3d 1082, 2013 Pa. Super. 56, 2013 WL 1115834, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 144
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMarch 19, 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 64 A.3d 1082 (Commonwealth v. Howard) 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. Howard, 64 A.3d 1082, 2013 Pa. Super. 56, 2013 WL 1115834, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 144 (Pa. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinions

OPINION BY

BENDER, J.

Michael L. Howard appeals the judgment of sentence of 15 to 30 years’ imprisonment imposed following his conviction of Possession of a Controlled Substance, Pos[1084]*1084session With Intent to Deliver, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Criminal Conspiracy, Possession of a Prohibited Firearm, and Possession of Instruments of Crime. See 35 P.S. § 780-113(a)(16), (30), (32); 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 903, 6105(a)(1), 907 (respectively). Howard contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence seized from his person pursuant to a warrantless arrest, as well as additional evidence seized from his home pursuant to a warrant after police first entered on the assertion of exigent circumstances. Upon review, we find no error in the trial court’s rulings given the limitations of Howard’s claims. Accordingly, we are constrained to affirm his judgment of sentence.

Howard’s conviction arose out of a police investigation of the sale of illegal drugs from a residence at 5820 N. 12th Street in the City Of Philadelphia. The trial court has ably summarized the evidence of record as follows:

On November 12, 2009, at approximately 7:15 p.m., Police Officer Deidre Still began a surveillance of 5820 North 12th Street in response to numerous complaints about illegal drug activity at that address. At approximately 7:30 p.m., Officer Still observed a black female, later identified as Kathleen Moore, walk up the steps of the property and knock on the front door. Two seconds later, a black male, later identified as defendant, answered. After the two engaged in a brief conversation, Ms. Moore handed defendant an unknown amount of money. In turn, defendant handed Ms. Moore unknown objects, which she placed into her pocket. She then walked northbound on 12th Street and turned eastbound on Nedro Street. Believing that a narcotics transaction had just occurred, Officer Still relayed flash information to her backup officers. Officer McFeteh stopped Ms. Moore and recovered two blue tinted Ziploc packets containing crack cocaine from her.
Upon continued surveillance of this residence, Officer Still observed a black male, later identified as Michael Neices-mith, walk up the steps of the property and knock on the front door. Defendant answered the door and engaged in a brief conversation with Mr. Neicesmith. After Mr. Neicesmith handed defendant an unknown amount of money, defendant handed Mr. Neicesmith unknown objects. Mr. Neicesmith placed those objects into his pocket and walked northbound on 12th Street. After observing this second narcotics exchange, Officer Still relayed flash information to her backup officers. Sergeant Luca stopped Mr. Neicesmith and recovered one blue tinted Ziploc bag containing crack cocaine from the ground where Mr. Neicesmith was stopped.
Officer Still next observed another black male, later identified as Richard Brown, park a four-door compact car in front of the residence. Mr. Brown exited the vehicle, walked up the steps of the property and knocked on the front door. Defendant answered the door and engaged in a brief conversation with Mr. Brown. After Mr. Brown handed defendant an unknown amount of money, defendant then handed Mr. Brown unknown objects. Mr. Brown placed the items into his pocket, returned to the vehicle, and drove southbound on 12th Street. After observing this third narcotics exchange, Officer Still relayed flash information to her backup officers. Officer Melendez stopped Mr. Brown on the 5700 block of 12th Street and recovered from him three blue tinted plastic bags containing crack cocaine.
Shortly thereafter, Officer Still observed defendant exit the property at 5820 North 12th Street with a black [1085]*1085male, later identified as Michael Thoma-ston. The two men entered a black Mercury Grand Marquis which proceeded southbound on 12th Street. Officer Still immediately directed Officers McGonigle and Kensey to stop this vehicle. Officers McGonigle and Kensey stopped the vehicle on the 1100 block of Champlost Avenue, approximately two and one-half blocks from defendant’s residence. Officer McGonigle approached Mr. Thomaston, who was the driver, and Officer Kensey approached the defendant, who was sitting in the passenger seat. Officer McGonigle arrested Mr. Thomaston and recovered keys to the defendant’s residence. Officer Kensey arrested defendant and recovered one blue tinted plastic bag containing crack cocaine and $95 cash from defendant’s pockets.
Based on Officer Still’s surveillance and defendant’s arrest, Sergeant Luca believed that additional narcotics would be found inside defendant’s residence. To prevent any potential destruction or removal of this evidence, Sergeant Luca decided to secure the premises while he waited for the approval of a search warrant. When Sergeant Luca knocked on the door and announced his presence, a black female, later identified as Cindy Pringle, answered. When Ms. Pringle realized that police were at the door, she threw three blue tinted packets of crack cocaine behind the door. Police immediately entered the property, arrested Ms. Pringle and recovered the discarded narcotics.
Believing that other individuals might be inside with Ms. Pringle who could compromise police safety, Sergeant Luca and four to five additional police officers from the Narcotics Enforcement Team entered the property and conducted a one-minute cursory search. In conducting this cursory search, police quickly looked into each open room, underneath beds, and inside closets to ensure that no one else was inside the residence. They did not open any dresser drawers or kitchen cabinets. During this cursory search, police did not find anyone else inside the residence. They also did not find any narcotics or weapons during this cursory search. Once they discovered that no one else was inside the residence, police exited the property and secured the front and back of the premises.
At 1:30 a.m., on November 13, 2009, police executed the search warrant for defendant’s residence. While executing this search warrant, police recovered 99 blue tinted Ziploc packets of crack cocaine from the kitchen wall and new and unused colored packets on the kitchen table. They also found a .380 caliber semiautomatic firearm with five live rounds under the kitchen sink. Police recovered two business letters listing Anthony Howard and the address of 5820 North 12th Street.
The firearm was submitted to the Firearms Identification Unit, which test fired the gun and determined it to be operable. All of the narcotics retrieved from the buyers, defendant’s person and the residence were submitted to the chemistry laboratory for analysis. The two blue tinted Ziploc packets of crack cocaine recovered from Ms. Moore weighed 80 milligrams per packet. The one blue tinted Ziploc packet of crack cocaine recovered from Mr. Neieesmith weighed 87 milligrams. The two blue tinted Ziploc packets of crack cocaine from Mr. Brown weighed 85 milligrams per packet. The one blue Ziploc packet of crack cocaine recovered from the defendant weighed 79 milligrams. The three blue tinted Ziploc packets of crack cocaine from Ms. Pringle weighed 73 [1086]*1086milligrams per packet. The 99 packets of cocaine recovered from the kitchen wall totaled 8.611 grams. Due to defendant’s prior conviction at CP-51-CR-0328651-1994, he was ineligible to possess a firearm under Section 6105 of the Uniform Firearms Act.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
64 A.3d 1082, 2013 Pa. Super. 56, 2013 WL 1115834, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-howard-pasuperct-2013.