Commonwealth v. SELENSKI

994 A.2d 1083, 606 Pa. 51, 2010 Pa. LEXIS 1131
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 26, 2010
Docket108 MAP 2007
StatusPublished
Cited by138 cases

This text of 994 A.2d 1083 (Commonwealth v. SELENSKI) 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. SELENSKI, 994 A.2d 1083, 606 Pa. 51, 2010 Pa. LEXIS 1131 (Pa. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION

Justice EAKIN.

Appellant was incarcerated while awaiting trial for the homicides of several individuals found buried in his backyard. He escaped from prison October 11, 2003, but turned himself in two days later. That day, the Commonwealth filed a criminal complaint charging appellant with escape and weapons or implements for escape.1 On October 17, 2003, the Commonwealth filed a petition pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 130(B)(l)(b)(i),2 requesting all proceedings on both criminal complaints be joined before the same magisterial district justice. The trial court granted the petition. On January 16, 2004, the trial court entered a trial management order includ[55]*55ing both Docket No. 3966 of 2003, the homicide charges, and Docket No. 3967 of 2003, the escape charges.

Arraignment on all charges occurred February 9, 2004; appellant pled not guilty. Appellant filed an omnibus pre-trial motion relative to the homicide charges, seeking to suppress his admission that police would discover bodies buried in his backyard. The trial court granted the motion, finding a violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). The Commonwealth appealed this decision, but the Superior Court affirmed, Commonwealth v. Selenski, No. 1171 MDA 2004, 876 A.2d 469, unpublished memorandum (Pa.Super. filed March 28, 2005), and this Court denied allocatur. Commonwealth v. Selenski, 586 Pa. 738, 891 A.2d 732 (2005) (table).

Thereafter, on January 26, 2006, appellant filed a motion to dismiss the escape charges pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 600,3 because trial on those charges had not occurred within 365 days. The Commonwealth averred the escape case was stayed by its appeal of the suppression orders. See Commonwealth’s Response to the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Escape Charge Pursuant to Rule 600, at 2 ¶¶ 19, 37, 55 (“The uncontroverted evidence of the appeal record required that [56]*56the Commonwealth not proceed on the escape charge as they were listed on the appellate court’s docket and therefore stayed.”).

Appellant argued that because the Commonwealth did not follow the procedure set forth in Pa.R.Crim.P. 582(B),4 the homicide and escape charges had not been properly consolidated. Therefore, he contended, appeal of the ruling on the homicide charges did not stay the escape charges. The Commonwealth asserted the requisite notice of joinder was given to appellant by its Rule 130 petition to transfer; consolidation of the homicide and escape charges before one district justice had occurred, and the trial court management order listed both docket numbers. The Commonwealth alleged it had 120 days to bring the escape charges to trial under Pa.R.Crim.P. 600(D)(2)5 after the cases were remanded, and trial had been scheduled for February 21, 2006, within the 120 days. Further, the Commonwealth claimed appellant waived the issue by failing to raise it in his omnibus pre-trial motion.

[57]*57The trial court granted appellant’s motion to dismiss the escape charges, finding consolidation of the homicide and escape charges was not in conformity with Rule 582. Finding the record lacking in this regard, and expressly rejecting the Commonwealth’s argument that a de facto consolidation had occurred, the trial court concluded it must dismiss the escape charges under Rule 600. Appellant was acquitted of the homicide charges following the February 21, 2006 trial. The Commonwealth appealed dismissal of the escape charges.

The Superior Court reversed the trial court’s order, and remanded for reinstatement of the escape charges. Commonwealth v. Selenski, 919 A.2d 229, 234 (Pa.Super.2007). The Superior Court held the trial court erred in reaching its conclusion by focusing on the Commonwealth’s failure to follow Rule 582’s joinder requirements, rather than determining whether the Commonwealth exercised “due diligence” by making a reasonable effort to prosecute appellant in a timely fashion under Rule 600(G). Id., at 232-33.

The Superior Court acknowledged the Commonwealth’s joinder motion did not comply with Rule 582, but it determined joinder of the homicide and escape charges would have been permitted. The court reasoned evidence of the escape would have been admissible in the homicide trial to show appellant’s consciousness of guilt, while evidence of the homicides would have been admissible in the escape trial to show appellant’s motive for escaping, and there would have been no danger of the jury confusing these separate offenses. The Superior Court next determined the Rule 130(B)(l)(b)(i) transfer petition gave appellant and the trial court sufficient notice of the Commonwealth’s intention to try the homicide and escape charges together. This was evidenced by the January 16, 2004 trial management order, which listed the docket numbers in both cases, and scheduled a single trial.

Thus, the Superior Court concluded the trial court misconstrued Rule 600 by disregarding the Commonwealth’s due diligence; it found that, to the extent consolidation was necessary to suspend Rule 600’s run date, it was achieved by the Commonwealth’s transfer motion, then ratified by the trial [58]*58court in its management order. Accordingly, the Superior Court held no violation of Rule 600 occurred.

We granted allowance of appeal to:

(1) Discuss whether the Superior Court was correct in concluding that “the Commonwealth exercised due diligence and that the circumstances occasioning the postponement were beyond the control of the Commonwealth” within the meaning of Pa.R.Crim.P. 600(G).
(2) Discuss whether the Superior Court applied the proper standard of review and the proper scope of review in reviewing the trial court’s order granting [appellant’s motion to dismiss under Pa.R.Crim.P. 600.

Commonwealth v. Selenski, 594 Pa. 713, 937 A.2d 445 (2007) (table). Our standard of review of a Rule 600 determination is whether the trial court abused its discretion. Commonwealth v. Solano, 588 Pa. 716, 906 A.2d 1180, 1186 (2006). “An abuse of discretion is not merely an error of judgment, but if in reaching a conclusion the law is overridden or misapplied, or the judgment exercised is manifestly unreasonable, or the result of partiality, prejudice, bias or ill-will ... discretion is abused.” Commonwealth v. Wright, 599 Pa. 270, 961 A.2d 119, 142 (2008) (citations omitted). Our scope of review is limited to the record evidence from the speedy trial hearing and the findings of the lower court, reviewed in the light most favorable to the prevailing party. Solano, at 1186.

While the Superior Court set forth the proper standard and scope of review regarding a Rule 600 determination, appellant argues the Superior Court exceeded its review limitations.

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Bluebook (online)
994 A.2d 1083, 606 Pa. 51, 2010 Pa. LEXIS 1131, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-selenski-pa-2010.