Commonwealth v. Rahman

75 A.3d 497, 2013 Pa. Super. 152, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1163
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 24, 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by103 cases

This text of 75 A.3d 497 (Commonwealth v. Rahman) 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. Rahman, 75 A.3d 497, 2013 Pa. Super. 152, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1163 (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 after Appellant Wali Rahman was convicted of aggravated assault,1 simple assault,2 recklessly endangering another person (REAP),3 resisting arrest,4 and disorderly conduct.5 Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions and claims the trial court erred in consolidating his trial with that of his co-defendant Moses Franklin.6 We affirm.

On March 19, 2009, Philadelphia City Council convened at City Hall for their weekly meeting. Sergeant Pedro Rosario, Chief Sergeant-at-Arms, was on duty at the Council meeting when he heard a commotion going on in the balcony that overlooks the Council chambers. When Sergeant Rosario reached the balcony, he encountered Appellant, co-defendant Franklin, and several other individuals, who were yelling so loud that they disrupted the Council meeting. Sergeant Rosario observed the President of the Council stop the meeting by banging his gavel in an attempt to bring order among the noisy crowd. At every entrance of the balcony, there were notices posted that informed citizens of behavior deemed inappropriate for City Council meetings. For the benefit of other spectators, attendees at City Council meetings may not stand up and hold signs.

When Sergeant Rosario approached Appellant and Franklin, he asked them to quiet down to allow the meeting to continue and informed the men that they would be escorted out of the building if they continued to disrupt the meeting. Appellant, Franklin, and their group of friends ignored Sergeant Rosario’s requests and Appellant encouraged the crowd to stand up and make more noise. Sergeant Rosario indicated that he was concerned because the crowd was standing very close to the balcony’s glass divide, where the public is not allowed to stand for safety reasons.

Sergeant Rosario directed Sergeant Derek Grant, a civil affairs police officer, to help him control the crowd on the balcony. After Sergeant Grant identified himself as a police officer and asked Appellant to leave the balcony several times, Sergeant Grant took the sign that Appellant was holding. In response, Appellant shoved Sergeant Grant with both hands, pushing him back several feet. Appellant then threw several punches at Sergeant [500]*500Grant and continued to swing at the other officers. With the assistance of other officers, Sergeant Grant was able to place Appellant under arrest. As a result of his struggle with Appellant, Sergeant Grant sustained injuries to his left rib and his right shoulder, which required him to be out of work for approximately two months.

Appellant was charged in connection with this incident and proceeded to a bench trial which was held on August 24, 2010. The trial court convicted Appellant of aggravated assault, simple assault, REAP, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. On October 13, 2010, the trial court sentenced Appellant to two years probation. Appellant filed a timely post-sentence motion, which was denied by operation of law on February 28, 2012. This timely appeal followed.

Appellant raises the following issues for our review on appeal:

1. In regard to the Aggravated Assault conviction, was there insufficient evidence as a matter of law concerning the mens rea required for the causing of “bodily injury”?
2. In regard to the Simple Assault conviction, was there insufficient evidence as a matter of law concerning the mens rea required for the causing of “bodily injury”?
3. In regard to the Recklessly Endangering Another Person conviction, was there insufficient evidence as a matter of law because Appellant did not initiate or escalate the physical altercation?
4. In regard to the Disorderly Conduct conviction, was there insufficient evidence as a matter of law that Appellant had the specific “intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm” or that he “recklessly created a risk thereof’?
5. In regard to the Resisting Arrest conviction, was there insufficient evidence as a matter of law that the underlying arrest or discharged duty was “lawful”?
6. Did the consolidation of Appellant’s trial with Moses Franklin ... — who was not tried as a coconspirator— constitute reversible error in that the introduction of the purported “Moses Franklin protest videotape” as evidence against Appellant was without proper foundation as having been recorded from the internet or by some other non-testifying hence non-verifying source?

Appellant’s Brief at 5 (renumbered for our review).

We are guided by the following standard of review when presented with a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a defendant’s conviction:

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 defen[501]*501dant’s guilt is to be resolved by the fact finder unless the evidence is so weak and inconclusive that, as a matter of law, no 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 evidence 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. Pettyjohn,

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Bluebook (online)
75 A.3d 497, 2013 Pa. Super. 152, 2013 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1163, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-rahman-pasuperct-2013.