Commonwealth v. Johnson

818 A.2d 514, 2003 Pa. Super. 65, 2003 Pa. Super. LEXIS 290
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 20, 2003
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 818 A.2d 514 (Commonwealth v. Johnson) 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. Johnson, 818 A.2d 514, 2003 Pa. Super. 65, 2003 Pa. Super. LEXIS 290 (Pa. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

POPOVICH, J.:

¶ 1 Appellant Jimmie Johnson appeals from the judgment of sentence entered November 19, 2001, in the Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County, following his conviction for criminal trespass and receiving stolen property (RSP). Upon *516 review, we reverse the judgment of sentence.

¶ 2 On the afternoon of June 12, 2000, Appellant was seen leaving a house located at 420 Ritner Street in Philadelphia. Although Appellant told police officers that he had purchased the house, Richard Braude was the true owner of the house and never sold the house nor gave anybody permission to sell the house. Appellant was arrested. After a bench trial, Appellant was found guilty of criminal trespass and RSP which were both graded as felonies of the third degree.

¶ 3 On November 19, 2000, Appellant was sentenced to 15 to 30 months imprisonment for the criminal trespass conviction. No further penalty was imposed for the RSP conviction. Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal. The trial court ordered Appellant to file a Statement of Matters Complained of on Appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b), and Appellant complied. Thereafter, the trial court authored an opinion pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a). Appellant raises the following issues on appeal:

(1) Was not the evidence insufficient as a matter of law to sustain appellant’s conviction for Criminal Trespass, a felony of the third degree, where the Commonwealth failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant was not licensed or privileged to be [sic] enter the home, an essential element of the crime, as the appellant explained to police that he had bought the property, that he had a bill of sale for the property, a deed, and copies of checks used to purchase the property, and believed that he was the true owner?
(2) Was not the evidence insufficient as a matter of law to sustain appellant’s conviction for receipt of stolen property where the Commonwealth failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant intentionally received, retained or disposed of movable property of another knowing that it had been stolen, or believing it had probably been stolen?

Appellant’s brief, at 3.

¶4 Both of Appellant’s issues concern whether the evidence was sufficient to uphold the convictions. Regarding sufficiency of the evidence claims, this Court has held previously:

In evaluating a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we must determine whether viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, together with all reasonable inferences therefrom, the trier of fact could have found that each and every element of the crimes charged was established beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Heistand, 454 Pa.Super. 482, 685 A.2d 1026, 1028 (1996). The facts and circumstances established by the Commonwealth need not preclude every possibility of innocence. However, any questions or doubts are to be resolved by the factfinder, unless the evidence is so weak and inconclusive that as a matter of law, no probability of fact may be drawn from the circumstances. Commonwealth v. Morales, 447 Pa.Super. 491, 669 A.2d 1003, 1005 (1996). The trier of fact is free to believe all, part or none of the evidence. Commonwealth v. Price, 416 Pa.Super. 23, 610 A.2d 488, 489 (1992). “The standard is equally applicable to cases where the evidence is circumstantial rather than direct so long as the combination of the evidence links the accused to the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Commonwealth v. Swerdlow, 431 Pa.Super. 453, 636 A.2d 1173, 1176 (1994).
*517 Commonwealth v. Thompson, 779 A.2d 1195, 1197 (Pa.Super.2001), appeal denied, 567 Pa. 760, 790 A.2d 1016 (2001).

¶5 In Commonwealth v. Yetsick, 402 Pa.Super. 615, 587 A.2d 788, 790 (1991), we recognized:

[T]he trier of fact is free to believe all, part, or none of the evidence presented, [Commonwealth v. ]Griscavage, supra, 512 Pa. [540] at 546, 517 A.2d [1256] at 1259 [(1986 )], and that “the Commonwealth may sustain its burden of proving every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt by means of wholly circumstantial evidence.” Commonwealth v. Harper, supra, 485 Pa. [572] at 576, 403 A.2d [536] at 538 [(1979)].

The trial court opinion contained the following brief factual history:

The facts underlying the instant appeal concern a [break-in] of a property located at 420 Ritner [S]treet, which occurred on June 12, 2000. The complainant^ Richard Braude,] had recently bought the house and was renovating it. The defendant had entered without permission and was claiming to own the property and attempted to sell it to a third party on the day in question.

See Trial Court Opinion, 6/11/02, at 1.

¶ 6 We rely upon the trial testimony to elaborate upon the factual history of this unusual case. The Commonwealth’s first witness was Mr. Braude. He owned the house at issue. On June 12, 2000, the house was under renovation. Although he was not sleeping at the house, Mr. Braude used the house’s dining room as an office. See N.T. Hearing, 10/9/01, at 12. Mr. Braude was a probation officer and rented properties. He used the house address as his work address. Id. at 17. Before June 12th, Mr. Braude was last in the house on June 9th. Id. at 11. When Mr. Braude went to the house on June 12th, he saw that a front window screen had been taken out and was mangled and laid on the porch. Mr. Braude did not have his keys to the house and peered inside the window and saw things in the house to be out of place. Id. at 13. He left the house to retrieve his keys. While retrieving his keys, Mr. Braude received a telephone call from a neighbor telling him that police officers were at the house. Mr. Braude returned to the house and saw Appellant and another man talking to police officers. Id. at 14. Appellant told Mr. Braude that he had bought the house from a Richard Braude and that he had the keys for the house. Id. at 15. 1 Appellant’s key fit a door to the house. Mr. Braude testified that there were marks on one of the door locks and the door wood surrounding the lock and that he had not seen the marks previously. Id. at 16.

¶ 7 When Mr. Braude entered the house, he noticed that certain things were moved. Id. at 16-17. First, Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
818 A.2d 514, 2003 Pa. Super. 65, 2003 Pa. Super. LEXIS 290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-johnson-pasuperct-2003.