Commonwealth v. Sheffy

505 A.2d 604, 351 Pa. Super. 211, 1986 Pa. Super. LEXIS 9628
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 25, 1986
DocketNos. 402 and 429
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 505 A.2d 604 (Commonwealth v. Sheffy) 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. Sheffy, 505 A.2d 604, 351 Pa. Super. 211, 1986 Pa. Super. LEXIS 9628 (Pa. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

WICKERSHAM, Judge:

Tracy L. Sheffy was tried before the Honorable G. Thomas Gates, President Judge, and a jury, in July 1983 and was found guilty of arson, damage to property, and arson, injury to person, and murder in the third degree.

On July 27, 1984, Judge Gates sentenced Tracy L. Sheffy to prison for a term of not less than 10 years nor more than 20 years. This direct appeal, in which appellant is represented by trial counsel, John C. Tylwalk, Esquire, brings the following issues before us:

A. Did the trial court err in refusing to suppress Miss Sheffy’s statement?
B. Did the trial court err in refusing Miss Sheffy’s request to sequester the jury?
C. Was the verdict against the weight of the evidence?
D. Did the trial court err in permitting testimony concerning a previous fire which occurred at 15-19 South Railroad Street, on December 9, 1982?
E. Did the trial court err in permitting Thomas Brough to testify about acts and conduct of Tracy Sheffy which occurred prior to the fire on December 24, 1982?
F. Did the trial court err in permitting testimony concerning various incidents that were reported to Palmyra Police by Tracy Sheffy prior to December 24, 1982?

Brief for Appellant at 27.

The Commonwealth filed a motion to modify sentence and took an appeal from the trial court’s refusal to do so, and has filed a cross-appeal, with the following issue:

[213]*213G. Did the sentencing court impose an unlawful sentence when it failed to impose a separate sentence for each of four (4) counts of third degree murder and two (2) counts of arson and instead imposed one sentence for all six (6) offenses by holding that all of the offenses merged for purposes of sentencing?

Brief for the Commonwealth at 2.

In his opinion dated July 3, 1984, Judge Gates reviewed the facts underlying this appeal. He said:

“The evidence adduced at trial discloses that around 3:30 a.m. on December 24, 1982, someone poured a flammable liquid on the brick floor of the foyer of the Palm Plaza Apartment Building situate[d] at 15-19 South Railroad Street in the Borough of Palmyra, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, and set it on fire. The result was devastating; the building, which consisted of two floors, with four offices and one apartment on the first floor and seven apartments on the second floor, was completely destroyed. Four persons, Marlin Slaybaugh, Blanche Lingle, Ruth Ann Falco and John Falco, lost their lives as a result of smoke inhalation. They had been tenants of the second floor apartments. The defendant, an eighteen (18) year old single woman, was also a resident tenant of the building from October 9 of 1982. We can infer that she was aware that the building was occupied by other tenants and they were sleeping at the time the fire started.

“The investigating officers determined that the fire was of incendiary origin and began an investigation to determine the perpetrator. During the course of the search, the defendant became a suspect. It was discovered that she had an undifferentiated amorous relationship with a boyfriend named Thomas Brough. Toward the end of 1982 her relationship with Brough became strained and Brough was attempting to sever it. Brough was an ambulance aid with the Palmyra Fire Department. He resided at the fire station which was located about a block from the destroyed apartment building.

[214]*214“Brough testified that on November 21, 1982 he and the defendant has a disagreement after which the defendant left the fire station. She returned to the fire station sometime later and told Brough that she had been attacked in the hallway of her apartment building by a man. Brough told her to call the police. Although claiming to have been attacked, the defendant did not think she could identify the individual and did not scream or holler, even though the attack allegedly occurred inside the apartment building where several other people were residing. Then, she claimed, she forced herself free, waited five minutes and ran to the fire station. A police investigation was fruitless.

“Brough disclosed another incident which occurred on or about November 27, 1982 when he and the defendant argued. Again she left the fire station. At about 2:30 a.m. she came to the fire hall, aroused Brough and related to him that someone had broken into her apartment and tried to rape her. A subsequent police investigation failed to substantiate her allegations. Once more she could not identify the individual. Again she had not screamed. There were no signs of a struggle in the apartment and no signs of forced entry even though her doors were supposedly locked. Her description of the attack and subsequent escape was remarkably similar to the prior one and equally implausible.

“Brough related that on December 1, 1982, after he had dropped the defendant off at her apartment, she appeared at the fire station with a threatening note which she claimed to have found slipped under her door.

“On December 9, 1982 Brough and the defendant had another disagreement resulting in the defendant’s leaving the fire station in anger. About midnight, Brough was dispatched to a fire call in the Palm Plaza Apartments. That fire was discovered in a small storage area opposite the defendant’s apartment by a tenant of the building who noticed smoke as he entered the building about 11:00 p.m. The tenant ran[] to his apartment on the second floor, called the fire department and made about four or five trips up and down the steps with buckets of water. On his third [215]*215trip, he found the defendant also throwing water on the fire which they extinguished before the firemen arrived.

“On December 23, 1982 at or about 11:30 p.m. Brough revealed that he received another telephone call from the defendant. She wanted to talk to him and was insistent that he come to her apartment and talk to her. He countered that they could talk in the morning, at which point the defendant became rather angry and hung up. At 3:45 a.m. Brough was dispatched to the Palm Plaza Apartments to respond to the fatal fire call.

“By December 28, 1982, the Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshalls had determined that the cause of the fire was incendiary. Due to the previous [attention]-getting police contacts, the defendant became a suspect and the Fire Marshalls sought to speak with her and Brough. Before the police were able to make contact with either, the defendant appeared at the Palmyra Police Station with her mother on the afternoon of December 28, 1982.

“The Fire Marshalls were summoned and the defendant agreed to speak to them. Before any questions were asked, she was advised of her Miranda rights and she acknowledged that she understood them. She related to the Fire Marshalls her knowledge of the events of the night of the fire. The Fire Marshalls thereafter asked her to go through it again and relate the episode starting earlier in the afternoon. To this version the defendant added the fact that she had gone to the front foyer and checked her mailbox. Also, at this point she became emotionally upset, started to cry and appeared to be in a distraught condition. The Marshalls then asked whether she would like to call somebody to be with her. They suggested calling her mother or her boyfriend Brough.

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Related

Commonwealth v. Davis
760 A.2d 406 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
505 A.2d 604, 351 Pa. Super. 211, 1986 Pa. Super. LEXIS 9628, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-sheffy-pasuperct-1986.