Commonwealth v. Poundstone

188 A.2d 830, 200 Pa. Super. 416, 1963 Pa. Super. LEXIS 650

• Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: March 19, 1963
• Docket: Appeals, 260 to 263
• Status: Published

Opinions

Opinion by

Woodside, J.,

The Commonwealth has appealed from the orders sustaining the demurrers made by the defendants who were tried on the charges of bribery and conspiracy.

In the course of the trial, the Commonwealth offered certain evidence which the court refused to admit. At the conclusion of the Commonwealth’s evidence, a demurrer was interposed in each case. The court sustained the demurrers, and subsequently refused to remove them.¹

Without the evidence which the Commonwealth offered and which the court refused to admit, there is insufficient evidence to support a conviction of any of the defendants on any of the charges. The Commonwealth admits this, but appeals on the ground that the trial judge erred in its rulings on the evidence, and that there would have been sufficient evidence to submit the case to the jury had not the court erred in its rulings on the evidence.

It is settled that on an appeal by the Commonwealth from an order sustaining a demurrer to the Commonwealth’s evidence, our review is limited to an examination of the record to determine whether there was sufficient evidence to convict.

The identical question here presented was carefully examined in Commonwealth v. Frank, 159 Pa. Superior Ct. 271, 48 A. 2d 10 (1946), where on pages 277, 278, Judge Baldrige, speaking for a unanimous court, said: “The commonwealth may appeal also where the judge has sustained defendant’s demurrer, which raised the pure legal question of the sufficiency of the proof to support the crime charged: Commonwealth v. Kolsky, 100 Pa. Superior Ct. 596, 599; Commonwealth v. Shiroff, 131 Pa. Superior Ct. 565, 200 A. 204; Commonwealth v. Obenreder, supra, p. 255. The difficulty that confronts the commonwealth is that concededly a case was not made out on the testimony actually received. Viewing it only, the trial judge had no alternative than to sustain the demurrer. Should the testimony offered by the commonwealth at side bar, and rejected by the trial judge, have been considered? Our answer to that question is in the negative. The proper test to apply to the validity of a demurrer is whether the ‘evidence of record’ (Commonwealth v. Ernesto, 93 Pa. Superior Ct. 339, 341, 342), the ‘admitted state of facts’ (Commonwealth v. Kerr, supra, p. 601), the ‘evidence produced’ (Commonwealth v. Williams, 71 Pa. Superior Ct. 311; Commonwealth v. Kolsky, supra, p. 599), and ‘all the facts testified to and the inferences reasonably drawn therefrom’ (Sadler, Criminal Procedure in Pennsylvania, Vol. II, §541, pp. 611, 612), would support a verdict of guilty. See, also, Chitty on Criminal Law (5th American Ed., 1847), Vol. I, p. 623. Even assuming the commonwealth’s contention is correct, ‘the error, if any, was in the exclusion of evidence on the trial.’ Commonwealth v. Obenreder, supra, p. 256.”

In Commonwealth v. Thomas, 166 Pa. Superior Ct. 214, 219, 70 A. 2d 458 (1950), this Court said: “An objection to this offer of testimony was sustained by the trial judge, and his ruling is assigned as error. However, in determining the validity of a demurrer in a criminal case the test is whether the evidence of record would support a verdict of guilty, and even assuming that the trial court erred in excluding the offered testimony, such error is not before us.”

As recently as last year we cited, quoted from, and approved the holding of Commonwealth v. Frank, supra, in an appeal by the Commonwealth from the sustaining of a demurrer. Commonwealth v. McDade, 197 Pa. Superior Ct. 522, 525, 180 A. 2d 86 (1962).

The Commonwealth admits that unless we overrule Commonwealth v. Frank, supra, 159 Pa. Superior Ct. 271, 48 A. 2d 10 (1946), it cannot prevail in this appeal. The doctrine of stare decisis, recognized and applied by the courts of this Commonwealth, is among the most important principles of good government. Monongahela Street Railway Co. v. Philadelphia Company, 350 Pa. 603, 616, 39 A. 2d 909 (1944) ; Callendees Administrator v. Keystone Mutual Life Insurance Co., 23 Pa. 471, 474 (1854). Rules of law, carefully considered and definitely established, should not be lightly discarded. If the courts are to wave like wheat in the wind, the whims of the particular judges of the moment and not rules of law will control the destinies, lives and fortunes of our people. “Stare Decisis should not be trifled with. If the law knows no fixed principles, chaos and confusion will certainly follow.” Commonwealth v. Woodhouse, 401 Pa. 242, 253, 164 A. 2d 98 (1960).

Arguments for and against the rule followed, or promulgated, in Commonwealth v. Frank, supra, can be revived, examined and re-examined, but an established rule should not be rejected except for solid, cogent and convincing reasons. Commonwealth v. Woodhouse, supra, p. 253. We have carefully examined the ingenious and learned argument made by the Deputy Attorney General, as well as the cases to which he has called our attention, but we are not convinced that the established rule is invalid or undesirable.

The appellees have filed motions to quash the appeals. However, the Commonwealth may appeal from the sustaining of a demurrer. Therefore, the motions to quash must be dismissed. Considering the record which is before us, we find insufficient evidence to support a conviction, and thus must affirm the demurrer. As stated above, the rulings of the trial court on the admission of evidence are not before us.

Orders affirmed.

1 In Commonwealth v. Fox, 181 Pa. Superior Ct. 292, 299, 124 A. 2d 628 (1956), President Judge Rhodes speaking for this Court said: “The fact that an order sustaining a demurrer is final for purposes of appeal precludes any further action on the matter by the lower court.”