Commonwealth v. Pedota

64 A.3d 634, 2013 Pa. Super. 27, 2013 WL 618790, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 73
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 20, 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 64 A.3d 634 (Commonwealth v. Pedota) 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. Pedota, 64 A.3d 634, 2013 Pa. Super. 27, 2013 WL 618790, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 73 (Pa. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

OPINION BY

STEVENS, P.J.

This is an appeal from the judgment of sentence entered by the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County, which, sitting as finder of fact in Appellant’s nonjury trial, considered a stipulated record and closing arguments before convicting Appellant of Homicide by Vehicle, 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3732(a); Involuntary Manslaughter, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2504(a); Driving on Roadways Laned for Traffic, 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3309(1); and Careless Driving, 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3714(a). We affirm.

[635]*635Appellant’s convictions stem from a traffic accident that occurred on the morning of September 9, 2010, when Appellant’s tractor-trailer drifted from a designated lane of travel on Interstate 78 in Easton, Pennsylvania and struck another tractor-trailer lawfully parked on the side of the highway, killing its driver, Mario Chacon, who was outside the vehicle at the time. Principal among the stipulated facts submitted for trial was that Appellant had fallen asleep or blacked out for unknown reasons at the time of the accident. Following jurisprudence, see infra, that criminal responsibility may flow from a driver’s deadly disregard of familiar physical warning signs of imminent sleep, the trial court found that Appellant recklessly continued to drive his tractor-trailer on the high speed interstate with indifference to human life. Accordingly, the court entered a verdict of guilty on all charges and sentenced him to two to four years’ incarceration, followed by three years’ probation on the charge of Homicide by Vehicle.1

In this appeal, Appellant assails the court’s treatment of the stipulated facts. Specifically, he argues that the court erred when it equated “falling asleep” with “blacking out” because the former typically involves a gradual event preceded by familiar signs while the latter is commonly understood as a sudden occurrence without warning. Given the distinction, Appellant argues, his stipulation to an alternate and equally likely possibility that he blacked out for unknown reasons left the Commonwealth with insufficient proof of the mens rea element of the crimes. That is, because he just as likely blacked out suddenly as fell asleep gradually under the stipulated facts, evidence failed to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Moreover, to the trial court’s determination that, given the record, it was Appellant’s burden to produce evidence that his was the unusual case where sleep came completely unannounced, Appellant charges the court with impermissibly shifting the burden of proof onto him. Finally, in failing to appreciate a distinction in the stipulation and instead relying on what it called the “undisputed fact” that he fell asleep at the wheel, Appellant contends the trial court effectively based its verdict on a fact not of record.

Our standard of review for challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence is well established.

As a general matter, our standard of review of sufficiency claims requires that we evaluate the record “in the light most favorable to the verdict winner giving the prosecution the benefit of all reasonable inferences to be drawn from the evidence.” Commonwealth v. Widmer, 560 Pa. 308, 744 A.2d 745, 751 (2000). “Evidence will be deemed sufficient to support the verdict when it establishes each material element of the crime charged and the commission thereof by the accused, beyond a reasonable doubt.” Commonwealth v. Brewer, 876 A.2d 1029, 1032 (Pa.Super.2005). Nevertheless, “the Commonwealth need not establish guilt to a mathematical certainty.” Id.; see also Commonwealth v. Aguado, 760 A.2d 1181, 1185 (Pa.Super.2000) (“[T]he facts and circumstances established by the Commonwealth need not be absolutely incompatible with the defendant’s innocence.”). Any doubt about the defendant’s guilt is to be resolved by the fact finder unless the evidence is so weak and inconclusive that, as a matter of law, [636]*636no probability of fact can be drawn from the combined circumstances. See Commonwealth v. DiStefano, 782 A.2d 574, 582 (Pa.Super.2001).
The Commonwealth may sustain its burden by means of wholly circumstantial evidence. See Brewer, 876 A.2d at 1032. Accordingly, “[t]he fact that the evidence establishing a defendant’s participation in a crime is circumstantial does not preclude a conviction where the evi-' dence coupled with the reasonable inferences drawn therefrom overcomes the presumption of innocence.” Id. (quoting Commonwealth v. Murphy, 795 A.2d 1025, 1038-39 (Pa.Super.2002)). Significantly, we may not substitute our judgment for that of the fact finder; thus, so long as the evidence adduced, accepted in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, demonstrates the respective elements of a defendant’s crimes beyond a reasonable doubt, the appellant’s convictions will be upheld. See Brewer, 876 A.2d at 1032.

Commonwealth v. Lamonda, 52 A.3d 365, 368 (Pa.Super.2012).

To determine the sufficiency of evidence offered in support of the charges of Homicide by Vehicle and Involuntary Manslaughter, we first review each statute. Pursuant to that Section 3732(a) of the Vehicle Code,

[a]ny person who recklessly or with gross negligence causes the death of another person while engaged in the violation of any law of this Commonwealth or municipal ordinance applying to the operation or use of a vehicle or to the regulation of traffic except section 3802 (relating to driving under influence of alcohol or controlled substance) is guilty of homicide by vehicle, a felony of the third degree, when the violation is the cause of death.

75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3732(a). To sustain a conviction under Section 3732(a), therefore, the Commonwealth was required to prove that Appellant caused the death of Mario Chacon by acting recklessly or with gross negligence, while violating a law or municipal ordinance under the conditions set forth in the statute. 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3732(a). Similarly, pursuant to Section 2504(a) of the Crimes Code,

[a] person is guilty of involuntary manslaughter when as a direct result of the doing of an unlawful act in a reckless or grossly negligent manner, or the doing of a lawful act in a reckless or grossly negligent manner, he causes the death of another person.

18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2504(a). The language of each statute thus reflects the well-settled principle that “[a] person is not guilty of an offense unless his liability is based on conduct which includes a voluntary act....” 18 Pa. Cons.Stat.Ann. § 301(a). See Commonwealth v. Fierst, 423 Pa.Super. 232, 620 A.2d 1196, 1202 (1993), appeal denied, 584 Pa. 672, 880 A.2d 1236

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Bluebook (online)
64 A.3d 634, 2013 Pa. Super. 27, 2013 WL 618790, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 73, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-pedota-pasuperct-2013.