Commonwealth v. Kunkle

79 A.3d 1173, 2013 Pa. Super. 287, 2013 WL 5935275, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3147
Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided November 6, 2013·Published·Cited by 43 cases

Opinion

OPINION BY

ALLEN, J.:

Cheryl Ann Kunkle (“Appellant”) appeals from the judgment of sentence imposed after a jury convicted her of criminal homicide, criminal solicitation to commit criminal homicide, aggravated assault, burglary, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.1 We affirm.

The trial court summarized the evidence adduced at trial as follows:

On Friday, November 16, 2001, Pennsylvania State Troopers from the Fern Ridge Station responded to the home of Benjamin Amato (“Victim”), located at 69 Sundance Drive, Chestnuthill Township, Monroe County, Pennsylvania for a welfare check. [N/T: Volume I, 2/6/07, p. 64] At the residence, the Troopers found the body of [the victim], who had been deceased for approximately four days, at the base of a stairway. [N/T: Volume II, 2/7/07, p. 131] The investigation revealed that [the victim] had been killed sometime between 1915 hours (7:15 p.m.) on Monday, November 12, 2001 and Friday, November 16, 2001, and that the Victim died as a result of blunt force trauma to his head. [N/T: Volume II, 2/7/07, p. 165.] Dr. Samuel D. Land, a board certified anatomic and clinical forensic pathologist, testified that in his opinion, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, Victim died as a result of three to four blows to his head. [N/T: Volume II, 2/7/07, p. 175.] The manner of death was ruled homicide by the coroner. [N/T: Volume II, 2/7/07, p. 165.]
At trial, the Commonwealth introduced strong circumstantial evidence tying [Appellant] to the victim’s homicide. Evidence was presented through exten[1177] sive testimony as well as numerous exhibits including photographs of the crime scene, cassette tape recordings, phone records, a letter from [Appellant] to Victim, etcetera. The investigation revealed that: (1) there was no sign of forced entry into Victim’s home and entry was made through an unlocked garage door [N/T: Volume I, 2/6/07, pp. 93-96]; [N/T: Volume II, 2/7/07, p. 130]; (2) Victim was attacked in the basement stairwell by someone lying in wait at the top of the steps [N/T: Volume IV, 2/9/07, p. 619]; (3) he was apparently sprayed with a chemical irritant which was identified as “pepper spray” [N/T: Volume I, 2/6/07, pp. 231-232], [Volume VI, 2/13/07, p. 960]; and (4) he was struck numerous times with a blunt force object. [N/T: Volume II, 2/7/07, p. 175.] Blood splatter was found about four to five feet from the Victim coming away from him, as well as approximately eight to ten feet from him back towards the base of the stairs where he was found, and on the radiator and the paneling right above the Victim’s head. Id. at 133-135. There were also linear bloodstains found on the wood flooring at the top of the steps, which showed movement through the pool of blood. Id. at 141. It was in this pool that a boot track was discovered. . Id. at 142. Corporal Joseph Racho testified that this meant the person wearing the boot had to have stepped in blood prior to the print being deposited there. Id. at 143.
Corporal Wilson used photographs of the crime scene to show the jury various impact marks found during investigation procedures along the walls of Victim’s residence. [N/T: Volume II, 2/7/02, p. 238.] The marks started from the first floor in the area of Victim’s bathroom door and came down the steps to the basement where Victim’s body was found. Id. There were forty-two impact marks discovered, twenty-two of which had blood either in them or around them. Id.
During the Commonwealth’s case in chief; John Weader, a forensic scientist, was called to the stand and testified that he found an active ingredient used in various self-defense sprays, such as mace or pepper spray, on the towel, heater cover, linoleum, and wood paneling samples from the crime scene that he analyzed. [N/T: Volume VI, 2/13/07, p. 960.] Gina Musante, a DNA Analyst for the Pennsylvania State Police, testified that, in a sample from the top of a ■speaker located on the floor-of Victim’s residence, she found more than one source of DNA. [N/T: Volume IV, 2/9/07, pp. 652-653.] Similarly, the sample recovered from the storm door of Victim’s residence revealed one source of DNA that did not match Victim. Id. at 658.
Gregory Rowe, [Appellant’s] son, testified that [Appellant] told him that she killed [the victim]. [N/T: Volume III, 2/8/07, p. 364.] He testified that [Appellant] told him she sprayed Victim with some type of mace, knocked him down the stairs, and beat him with a baseball bat until he was dead: Id. at 365. Rowe stated that [Appellant] had him purchase a can of mace for her two to three weeks before Victim’s death. Id. at 373-374.
William Terlesky, [Appellant’s] father’s work partner, testified that while [Appellant] was sitting in his car one morning she told him that she killed [the victim] and that she had confessed to her boyfriend, Officer Marty Reynolds, as well, but she was afraid Reynolds was going to turn her in. [N/T: Volume V, 2/12/07, pp. 792, 794.] The following day, [Appellant] asked Terlesky to retrieve a pair of shoes, a bat, and gloves that she had thrown out on Camp Akiba Road and help her burn them. Id. at
[1178]*1178797. Terlesky further testified that [Appellant] told him she waited at Victim’s house for Victim to come home, hit him in the head at the top of a set of -stairs, and then fled out. of a side door onto a deck. Id. at 801-802. She also remarked that “he went down like a pussy.” Id. Terlesky stated that when he asked [Appellant] why she was limping, she responded by telling him she hurt it when she jumped off Victim’s deck and hit a boat as she was leaving Victim’s residence. Id.
Marty Reynolds, a former police officer for the Pocono Mountain Regional Police, and boyfriend to [Appellant], testified that [Appellant] confessed to him • about killing Victim. [N/T: Volume IV, 2/9/07, p. 717.] When Mr. Reynolds was .at [Appellant’s] home, [Appellant] pulled down her jeans revealing bruises on the left portion of her thigh and stated that “I was there,” and “we fought all the way down the steps.” Id. at 715, 717.
Magisterial District Judge Debbie York was called to testify regarding [Appellant’s] behavior in her courtroom. When Victim was found not guilty of harassment on July 24, 2001, [Appellant] stood up and said: “What do I have to do fucking kill him to get him to leave me alone?” [N/T: Volume III,.2/8/07, p. 488.]

Trial Court Opinion, 9/24/07, at 3-6.

Additionally, the trial court explained:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Commonwealth v. Kunkle, 79 A.3d 1173, 2013 Pa. Super. 287, 2013 WL 5935275, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3147 (Pa. Ct. App. 2013).

79 A.3d 1173 (Commonwealth v. Kunkle) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Com. v. Bishop, H.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2024
HAYDEN v. OBERLANDER
W.D. Pennsylvania, 2024
Com. v. Walker, D.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2023
Com. v. Fitzgerald, F.
2022 Pa. Super. 176 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2022)
Com. v. Harris, M., Jr.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2022
Com. v. Groves, L.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2020
Com. v. Hayden, D.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2020
Com. v. Arnao, P
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2020
Com. v. Rawls, J.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2020
Com. v. Hughes, P.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019
Com. v. Berrios, A.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019
Com. v. Fitzpatrick, J., III
204 A.3d 527 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019)
Com. v. Anthony, D.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2018
Com. v. Bingaman, J.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2018
Com. v. Livingston, D.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2018
Com. v. Crothers, M.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2018
Com. v. Mable, A.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2018
Commonwealth v. Torres
177 A.3d 263 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Commonwealth v. Champney
161 A.3d 265 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)