Commonwealth v. Lawley

741 A.2d 205, 1999 Pa. Super. 252, 1999 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3425
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 12, 1999
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 741 A.2d 205 (Commonwealth v. Lawley) 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. Lawley, 741 A.2d 205, 1999 Pa. Super. 252, 1999 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3425 (Pa. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

CERCONE, President Judge Emeritus:

¶ 1 Appellant Matthew Lawley appeals from the judgment of sentence imposed after his conviction on the charges of robbery, (18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3701(a)(l)(iv)), theft by unlawful taking (18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3921) and receiving stolen property (18 Pa. C.S.A. § 3925). We affirm.

¶ 2 The Trial Court has aptly set forth the facts of this case as follows:

On December 19, 1997 at approximately 10:00 a.m., a man wearing a black stocking mask, a black peacoat, black lowtop Reebok shoes, latex rubber gloves, black pants with three white stripes running down the legs and carrying a book bag, entered the Willow Grove Bank in the Warminster Square Shopping Center in Warminster, Pennsylvania. This man vaulted over the customer service counter, landing in the work area of the bank employees. The assailant stood next to a teller, Rose Ann Messina and told her not to move while he opened her teller drawer and removed all the currency with the exception of one-dollar bills and five twenty-dollar bills held together with a paper clip, which was known as bait money to all bank employees. See N.T., 7/28/98, pp. 46. After extracting the money from Ms. Messina’s drawer, the intruder screamed, “Where is the rest of your money?”, to which Ms. Messina responded that she did not have any more money. See N.T., 7/28/98, pp. 46. The as[207]*207sailant also ordered a customer in the bank not to look at him. See N.T., 7/28/98, pp. 61.
As the intruder was removing the currency from Ms. Messina’s teller drawer, he commanded another teller, David Kerstein, who was working the drive-through station of the bank, not to touch his cash drawer. See N.T., 7/28/98, pp. 64. Mr. Kerstein complied with the assailant’s command. After retrieving the money, the intruder then jumped back over the customer service counter and ran out the front door, taking with him a total of $8,241.00. The assailant did not physically touch any customer or bank employee nor did he display a weapon of any kind.
As soon as the intruder exited the building, Mr. Kerstein ran through the kitchen area of the bank and out the back door where he observed the assailant fleeing the scene. Mr. Kerstein witnessed the intruder running toward the Meadowood Apartment Complex and entering a green sport utility vehicle in which he drove away. As he was walking back toward the bank, Mr. Kerstein discovered a black hat in the parking lot, which he secured and turned over to the authorities shortly after they arrived.
Officer John O’Donnell of the War-minster Township Police Department responded to the call regarding the Willow Grove Bank in the Warminster Shopping Center. Officer O’Donnell arrived at the scene at approximately 10:21 a.m. on December 19, 1997. Officer O’Donnell surveyed the scene of the crime and filed a summary report of the incident.
Mr. Kerstein showed Officer O’Donnell where he had discovered the black ski mask in back of the bank in the parking lot. Officer O’Donnell also observed a pair of latex rubber gloves in back of the bank and in the area surrounding the Meadowood Apartment Complex. Officer Michel Baxter of the Warminster Township Police Department assisted Officer O’Donnell in the investigation. Officer Baxter secured the black ski mask and latex rubber gloves. Detective Scott Selisker processed the customer service counter located inside the bank. Detective Selisker dusted for prints and lifted shoe tread prints off the customer service counter in the bank.
On January 22, 1998, Sergeant Michael Mosiniak, of the Warminster Police Department and other law enforcement personnel went to 1327 Howell Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to interview Chana Williford and Holli Martin for information about Matthew Lawley, a possible suspect in the December 19, 1997 Warminster bank robbery. Ms. Williford and her father, who lived in Texas, were the cosigners for the lease of the apartment at 1327 Howell Street. Ms. Williford had taken on several roommates, including [Appellant], who had for a time shared Ms. Martin’s room in the apartment.
Sergeant Mosiniak told both Ms. Martin and Ms. Williford that he was aware that [Appellant] lived at 1327 Howell Street at some point and that they were friends with him. Along with the request to interview them, Sergeant Mo-siniak specifically asked Ms. Williford if she would consent to a search of the premises. Sergeant Mosiniak prepared a Consent to Search document which Ms. Williford signed/11 Ms. Williford gave Sergeant Mosiniak consent to look around or search anywhere in the premises. Ms. Williford directed Sergeant Mosiniak to the garage on the ground floor in the back of the building underneath the apartment. The garage assigned to Apartment 1327 contained a large sofa and a mattress leaning up against it in the corner of the garage. It also contained several trash bags, some dark in color and some clear. Sergeant Mosiniak searched various trash bags and retrieved numerous items.
Sergeant Mosiniak took into custody a green book bag, a pair of black lowtop [208]*208Reebok shoes, size 11 and a black pea-coat. All were recovered from the trash bags in the garage of 1327 Howell Street. All items were secured as evidence and taken back to the Warminster Police Department.

Trial Court Opinion dated 1/21/99 at 1-3.

¶ 3 At the time of the search of the premises at 1327 Howell Street, Appellant was already incarcerated in the Bucks County Correctional Facility on a criminal charge unrelated to the bank robbery. The day after the police conducted this search, January 23, 1998, they filed a criminal complaint against the Appellant for the bank robbery. Prior to the commencement of his jury trial, Appellant filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained during the search. A suppression hearing was conducted before the Honorable David W. Heckler of the Court of Common Pleas of Bucks County. The suppression hearing was limited to the issue of whether the coat and the sneakers recovered in the search should be suppressed.

¶ 4 After hearing testimony from Ms. Williford, Officer Mosiniak and the Appellant, Judge Heckler denied the suppression motion. Appellant proceeded to a jury trial and was convicted of the aforementioned offenses. He was sentenced to fourteen (14) to thirty (30) months in a state correction facility. After Appellant filed a motion to reconsider, the Trial Court entered an order allowing Appellant to serve his sentence in the Bucks County Prison. This timely appeal followed.

¶ 5 On appeal to our Court Appellant presents two issues for our consideration:

A. WAS IT ERROR FOR THE TRIAL COURT TO DENY APPELLANT’S MOTION TO SUPPRESS PHYSICAL EVIDENCE?

B. WAS THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED AT TRIAL SUFFICIENT TO SUPPORT THE VERDICT AS TO ROBBERY UNDER 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3701(l)(a)(iv)?

Appellant’s Brief at 4.

¶ 6 We have stated, in prior cases, our standard of review for the denial of a suppression motion as follows:

When we review the ruling of a suppression court, we must determine whether its factual findings are supported by the record.

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Bluebook (online)
741 A.2d 205, 1999 Pa. Super. 252, 1999 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3425, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-lawley-pasuperct-1999.