Commonwealth v. Miller

560 A.2d 229, 385 Pa. Super. 186, 1989 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1645
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 13, 1989
Docket2406
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 560 A.2d 229 (Commonwealth v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme 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. Miller, 560 A.2d 229, 385 Pa. Super. 186, 1989 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1645 (Pa. 1989).

Opinions

BROSKY, Judge:

This is an appeal from the judgment of sentence following appellant’s jury conviction for default in required appearance.

Appellant raises five issues: The first one challenges the admission at trial of evidence of voice identification without compliance with the discovery rule (Pa.R.Crim.P. 305 B). The second and third issues relate to the trial court’s refusal to grant appellant’s demurrer on the basis of failure to make an in-court identification of appellant and because the charge for which he stood trial was de minimis. Appellant’s fourth contention concerns the denial of his Motion for a directed verdict of acquittal because the Commonwealth did not offer any evidence to- rebut appellant’s affirmative defense of mistake of fact. Finally, it is alleged that the trial court improperly instructed the jury that appellant could be found guilty of the crime charged if the evidence showed that he acted recklessly. We affirm.

The instant charge arises from appellant’s failure to appear at a preliminary hearing on an underlying charge.

As his initial issue, appellant avers that he was not given access to evidence of voice identification in violation of Pa.R.Crim.P. 305 B(l), the mandatory discovery rule. On this basis, he charges, the trial court erred in permitting the Commonwealth to introduce evidence of his voice identification via the testimony of Trooper Todd, the prosecuting [190]*190State Police Trooper, or, alternatively, that his counsel should have been given the opportunity to prepare to respond to this evidence.

During direct examination of Trooper Todd, counsel for appellant protested the Trooper’s affirmative response to the query, “Would you know his [appellant’s] voice if you heard it?” N.T., 1-21-88, 22. Counsel for appellant took the position that because the item which he requested — the results of any identification of appellant by voice — is considered mandatory discovery material (see Pa. R.Crim.P. 305 B(l)(d)), it should have been automatically provided to him by the Commonwealth. We disagree. It is clear from the wording of Pa.R.Crim.P. 305 B(l) that a defendant must first request the item(s) of information deemed mandatory under the Rule. See Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). Counsel conceded that he had received a host of discovery material from appellant’s prior counsel pursuant to the conduct of informal discovery between prior counsel and the District Attorney. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 305 A. Hence, present counsel was aware that noticeably absent from among the discovery materials obtained pursuant to informal discovery was this alleged result of voice identification.

Appellant’s trial counsel made no informal request to the District Attorney for this information as provided by Pa.R. Crim.P. 305 A, nor did counsel file a Motion with the court pursuant to the Rule demanding this item of information. Appellant’s concern over the absence of the voice identification material first surfaced at trial during direct examination of Trooper Todd despite trial counsel having entered his appearance on behalf of appellant in excess of two months before the commencement of trial. The Commonwealth stated at trial that it had given prior counsel material which was contained in its files. As stated above, appellant’s counsel admitted that he had received discovery material from former counsel as a result of informal discovery procedures.

[191]*191The following exchange ensued between the court and appellant’s counsel with regard to the latter’s complaint of the allegedly missing voice identification material:

THE COURT: I am sure if you had formal discovery and asked for it, I am sure you would have gotten it. You simply haven’t asked for it in informal discovery and it wasn’t there. Is it their duty on the Commonwealth’s part to supply it? Obviously, you anticipated this to be a problem.
So, do you have a case for me? An authority?
MR. MARTINO: Offhand, I don’t, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Your motion is denied.

Id.; emphasis supplied. Appellant’s counsel failed to supply the trial court with authority to support his argument that the mandatory nature of the information automatically required its disclosure or notice of its non-existence by the Commonwealth without either an informal request or by the filing of a formal motion. His appellate Brief is similarly deficient, and, consequently, the issue merits no further discussion.

The next three issues attack the legal sufficiency of the evidence adduced against appellant.

The first of these raises the sufficiency of the evidence in the context of the trial court’s failure to grant a demurrer on the basis of an in-court identification. Appellant elected to put in a defense when his Motion for a demurrer was denied after the close of the Commonwealth’s case. It is true that when a defendant chooses to put in a defense after the denial of a demurrer instead of resting his case, the correctness of this ruling is no longer an available issue on appeal. Commonwealth v. Ilgenfritz, 466 Pa. 345, 353 A.2d 387 (1976); Commonwealth v. Watson, 355 Pa.Super. 160, 512 A.2d 1261 (1986), appeal denied, 515 Pa. 579, 527 A.2d 540 (1987); Commonwealth v. Hammock, 319 Pa.Super. 497, 466 A.2d 653 (1983). However, it is equally the case that this challenge may be considered by an appellate court as an attack upon the sufficiency of the evidence as a whole. Commonwealth v. Olds, 322 Pa.Su[192]*192per. 442, 469 A.2d 1072 (1983). We will therefore address the issue as an attack upon the sufficiency of the evidence adduced for the charge of default in required appearance.

The portion of the statute defining the offense of default in required appearance applicable to appellant reads:

§ 5124. Default in required appearance
(a) Offense defined. — A person set at liberty by court order, with or without bail, upon condition that he will subsequently appear at a specified time and place, commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if, without lawful excuse, he fails to appear at that time and place____

According to the above, the Commonwealth would only have to prove that appellant failed to appear at the scheduled preliminary hearing on the underlying criminal charge. Commonwealth v. Winkleman, 11 D. & C.3d 53 (Clinton Co.1979). The Commonwealth was able to meet its burden of proof in this case through its witness, Trooper Todd.

Trooper Todd, the prosecuting State Trooper, indicated that he received a telephone call from appellant on the date of the preliminary hearing on the underlying charge. When asked if he was familiar with appellant’s voice and had recognized it, he responded affirmatively. The issue raised here — the inadequacy of the voice identification — was never pursued on cross-examination. In his testimony, appellant denied that he had made the telephone call to Trooper Todd.

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Commonwealth v. Miller
560 A.2d 229 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
560 A.2d 229, 385 Pa. Super. 186, 1989 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1645, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-miller-pa-1989.