Commonwealth v. Strong

825 A.2d 658, 2003 Pa. Super. 157, 2003 Pa. Super. LEXIS 788
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 23, 2003
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 825 A.2d 658 (Commonwealth v. Strong) 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. Strong, 825 A.2d 658, 2003 Pa. Super. 157, 2003 Pa. Super. LEXIS 788 (Pa. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

MONTEMURO, J.

¶ 1 Both the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and James Lincoln Strong appeal the pretrial Orders entered in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, granting in part and denying in part the parties’ motions to preclude certain evidence at Strong’s retrial for the 1983 murder of John Strock.

¶ 2 The trial court summarized the relevant facts and procedural history underlying this appeal as follows:

This case involves the slaying of John Henry Strock on August 18, 1983 in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. The Defendant, James Lincoln Strong, was charged ... with the crimes of Criminal Homicide, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2501(a), Kidnapping, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2901(a)(2), Robbery, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3701(a)(l)(i), and Theft by Unlawful Taking, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3921(a).
[Strong] testified on his own behalf at trial and denied his involvement in the homicide of [Strock]. The Commonwealth at the said trial relied primarily on the testimony of one James Alexander. [Alexander] was a principal and alleged eyewitness to the slaying of [Strock], [Alexander], who cooperated with the law enforcement authorities in the investigation of this criminal episode, has since passed away.
The original trial ... produced the following facts of record for our background. On August 18, 1983, [Strock] was driving a white Ford Grenada along Route 81 in Green Castle, Pennsylvania. *661 [Strock] stopped the car on the side of the road and offered a ride to two hitchhikers, [Strong] and [Alexander], According to the trial testimony of [Alexander], Alexander sat in the front seat and Strong sat in the backseat. Alexander testified that he promptly fell asleep.
When Alexander woke, he observed Strong produce a .20 gauge sawed-off shotgun and rest it upon [Strock’s] shoulder. Strong directed [Strock] to pull the car to the side of the road and exchange seats with Alexander, so that Alexander could drive the car. After driving for some time, Alexander pulled the car to the side of the road along an isolated stretch of interstate 81. Alexander walked into the woods a few steps in order to relieve himself. When Alexander returned to the car, Strong and [Strock] were not present. Alexander then heard a gunshot. Approaching the sound of the gunshot, Alexander saw that [Strock] had been shot and his body had fallen into a gully. Strong was holding the shotgun. Alexander asked Strong why he had shot [Strock]. Strong replied that he was tired of leaving witnesses behind. Strong directed Alexander to go through [Strock’s] pockets. Alexander complied, handing the items to Strong. Strong then directed Alexander to shoot [Strock]. Alexander refused and began walking back to the car when he heard another gunshot.
Alexander and Strong got into the Ford Grenada and continued their journey. Strong and Alexander ultimately abandoned [Strock’s] Grenada when it ran out of gas. Strong and Alexander continued hitchhiking until they were apprehended in Pottsdam, New York. At the time of the arrest, the officers discovered a .20 gauge sawed-off shotgun. While in custody of the New York police, Alexander agreed to cooperate with authorities and assist them in locating [Strock’s] body. Upon returning to Pennsylvania, Alexander assisted the Pennsylvania State Police in locating the body.
[Strong] was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death on October 30, 1984. The judgment of sentence was affirmed in Commonwealth v. Strong, 522 Pa. 445, 563 A.2d 479 (1989), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1060, 110 S.Ct. 1536, 108 L.Ed.2d 775 (1990).
In 1995 Strong filed a pro se petition seeking post-conviction relief. Counsel was appointed to assist Strong and an amended petition was filed. Evidentiary hearings were held on April 7th and 8th, and May 8th, 1997. On June 30, 1998 the lower court denied the petition for PCRA relief. [Strong] appealed. The Supreme Court accepted the appeal and held that the Commonwealth’s failure to disclose an understanding it had with a key witness in the case, James Alexander, was in violation of the mandates of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963). Accordingly, the case was reversed and remanded to [the trial court] for a new trial.

(Trial Ct. Op. at 1-3) (citations to transcript omitted).

¶3 On remand, both Strong and the Commonwealth filed pretrial motions. Strong’s motion sought (1) the dismissal of the charges based on double jeopardy grounds; (2) the preclusion of Alexander’s prior testimony at Strong’s first trial; and (3) the preclusion of evidence of Strong’s alleged prior bad acts. In response, the Commonwealth’s motion sought, inter alia, (1) the admission of Alexander’s prior testimony from both Strong’s trial and PCRA hearing; (2) the admission of evidence of prior crimes committed by Strong in 1969, 1975, and 1983; and (3) the admission of *662 Strong’s testimony from his first trial. On August 6, 2001, the trial court conducted a hearing on the issues raised in both motions. That same day, the court entered an order, inter alia, denying Strong’s motion to preclude the evidence of a similar crime committed by Strong in 1988, but granting Strong’s motion to preclude the evidence of other similar crimes committed in 1969 and 1975. The court also held several issues under advisement. On September 4, 2001, the trial court filed an Order and Opinion disposing of the remaining pretrial claims. Specifically, the court ruled (1) that Strong’s double jeopardy claim was meritless; (2) that Alexander’s testimony from the prior trial and PCRA hearing was inadmissible; and (3) that Strong’s prior trial testimony was admissible. On September 5, 2001, the Commonwealth filed a Notice of Appeal from the court’s August 6th Order. Thereafter, on October 1 and October 4, 2001, respectively, both the Commonwealth and Strong filed appeals from the court’s September 4th Order. The appeals were consolidated by Order of this Court dated February 21, 2002.

¶4 In its appeal, the Commonwealth raises two issues: (1) whether the trial court erred in precluding the prior trial and PCRA hearing testimony of an unavailable Commonwealth witness; and (2) whether the trial court erred in excluding evidence of prior crimes committed by Strong in 1969 and 1975. 1 Strong raises three issues in his appeal: (1) whether the trial court erred in admitting evidence of a prior bad act which occurred in 1983; (2) whether the trial court erred in admitting his testimony from his first trial as substantive evidence at retrial; and (3) whether the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the charges based on double jeopardy. 2 We will address these issues seriatim.

¶ 5 First, the Commonwealth argues that the trial court erred in precluding the prior trial and PCRA hearing testimony of deceased Commonwealth witness James Alexander. Pursuant to 42 Pa. C.S.A.

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Bluebook (online)
825 A.2d 658, 2003 Pa. Super. 157, 2003 Pa. Super. LEXIS 788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-strong-pasuperct-2003.