Commonwealth v. Tyler

451 A.2d 218, 305 Pa. Super. 15, 1982 Pa. Super. LEXIS 5364
Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided October 1, 1982·No. No. 13·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

BROSKY, Judge:

On June 25, 1980, appellant, William Henry Tyler, was convicted of three counts of burglary.1 No post-verdict motions were filed. On August 4,1980, Tyler was sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment of three and one-half to seven years. He was also ordered to make restitution in the amount of $1,025. On September 17, 1980, Tyler filed a petition under the Post Conviction Hearing Act2 in which he alleged numerous reasons why his trial counsel was ineffective. The P.C.H.A. court rejected all of Tyler’s claims for relief save one, his request to be permitted to file a direct appeal nunc pro tunc. The P.C.H.A. court found that counsel was ineffective in failing to file an appeal. Tyler then filed this direct appeal.3 We affirm the decision of the trial court in part but reverse in part and remand for resentencing the remaining count. Tyler’s sole contention in this appeal is that his trial counsel was ineffective.

On June 20, 1979, Tyler, Charles Bullock and Jerry Corbin drove a car to a building at 100 Chestnut Street in Harrisburg. They entered the building using keys which Corbin possessed as an employee of the company hired by the owners of the building to perform janitorial services. Tele[19] vision sets, radios and tape recorders were stolen from several offices, and one office reported missing several escrow checks. All the offices from which things were taken were broken into without any visible signs of force. The escrow checks were taken from an office which was broken into without force. The checks were within a desk which was usually locked. The desk was not forced open. No other articles were taken from that office. All the thefts, except for the checks, were reported the day after the criminal incident. The stolen checks were not reported until several days later. No person in any of the offices knew Tyler.

It is very clear that we will only find trial counsel to have rendered ineffective assistance of counsel where he failed to have any reasonable basis for failing to act in a manner which would have effectuated his client’s interest. Commonwealth ex rel. Washington v. Maroney, 427 Pa. 599, 235 A.2d 349 (1967). We will not, however, fault counsel for failing to make frivolous or fruitless motions. Commonwealth v. Wilson, 482 Pa. 350, 393 A.2d 1141 (1978). The burden is on the defendant to successfully prove that his counsel was ineffective. Commonwealth v. Burton, 491 Pa. 13, 417 A.2d 611 (1980).

First, Tyler claims that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to file a pre-trial motion to quash the information. He complains the information was based on evidence of a corrupt source, Charles Bullock. This motion would have been based also upon a challenge to the testimony of Bullock given the fact, again, that Bullock was a corrupt source and that no independent corroboratory evidence was presented. Tyler claims counsel should, therefore, have challenged Bullock’s “right to testify.” Thus, he reasons as the information was based solely on what was Bullock’s testimony, it should have been quashed. This contention is without merit. In Pennsylvania, a criminal conviction can be sustained solely on the basis of the uncorroborated testimony of an accomplice. Commonwealth v. Gordon, 254 Pa.Super. 267, 385 A.2d 1013 (1978).

[20] Next, Tyler states that his trial counsel was ineffective because he did not object to certain remarks made by the trial judge to the jury. Those remarks were said as an introduction to the jury. They include:

The Court: Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to start the trial of the case and we will go on here for a while with a few witnesses....
This will not be a long case. A burglary occurred at the office building that I’m referring to. You will hear from the people connected with the offices that were entered and then the essence of this case is an accusation by one who has already admitted his guilt that the defendant Mr. Tyler was also involved.
So you are going to be involved in judging the credibility of the Commonwealth’s witness who has admitted that he participated in this offense and is implicating Mr. Tyler. So as you listen to the testimony with that thought in mind, I’m sure you will pay close attention to the witnesses who bear on that question.

Tyler states that this statement was objectionable because it “described the case to the jury as one where the only issue for its determination was the credibility of the witness who would implicate appellant.” (Appellant’s brief, page 17.) This is clearly not a correct interpretation of the trial judge’s introductory remarks. The judge stated that the case was essentially, not exclusively, one involving credibility. He explained to the jury that it must appraise the credibility of all the witnesses. The jury was not told, as Tyler complains, that it need not require proof of every element of each crime charged. An objection to the trial judge’s introductory remarks would have been frivolous and entirely without merit. Counsel was not ineffective in this matter. Commonwealth v. Shore, 487 Pa. 534, 410 A.2d 740 (1980).

Tyler remonstrates, further, that his trial counsel failed to object to certain leading questions asked by the Commonwealth of its key witness, Charles Bullock. These questions specifically concerned the loading of the stolen [21] goods into a car after the burglary was completed. Tyler claims the questioning was improper and that the failure of his counsel to object prejudiced his case. This contention is without merit. The allegedly objectional question was not leading. The Commonwealth through direct questioning established that the stolen items were loaded into a car. Then, the prosecutor asked:

Q. So you loaded the stuff in the car, then what did the
three of you do?
A. Well, we proceeded out to sell it.

An objection to the form of the questions would have been frivolous. Counsel acted properly. Commonwealth v. Butler, 495 Pa. 82, 432 A.2d 590 (1981).

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Commonwealth v. Tyler, 451 A.2d 218, 305 Pa. Super. 15, 1982 Pa. Super. LEXIS 5364 (Pa. Ct. App. 1982).

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