Commonwealth v. Vicens-Rodriguez

911 A.2d 116, 2006 Pa. Super. 304, 2006 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3542
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 30, 2006
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 911 A.2d 116 (Commonwealth v. Vicens-Rodriguez) 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. Vicens-Rodriguez, 911 A.2d 116, 2006 Pa. Super. 304, 2006 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3542 (Pa. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

OPINION BY

KLEIN, J.:

¶ 1 Francisco Vicens-Rodriguez appeals from the judgment of sentence entered against him in the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County following his convictions for kidnapping, simple assault, criminal attempt to commit theft by extortion and other related crimes. He was sentenced to a term of 5 to 10 years’ incarceration to be followed by 7 years’ of probation. Vi-cens-Rodriguez raises one issue on appeal, that being a claim the trial court erred in failing to give the “false in one, false in all” jury charge. See Pennsylvania Suggested Standard Jury Instruction (Criminal) 4.15. After a thorough review, we conclude the trial court properly instructed the jury on the issue of witness credibility. Therefore, we affirm.

Factual Background

¶ 2 On June 22, 2004, Vicens-Rodriguez and 3 others went to the home of Luz De La Cruz in search of her husband, Hector Santana. Santana was not there.1 Later, [117]*117Santana came to the home and told De La Cruz that if he did not return in three days, she should take the children and leave. Santana left with a group of men.

¶ 3 Three days later, De La Cruz, while at work, received a phone call from her husband telling her it was very important for her to give him some money. During the call, another person took the phone from Santana and demanded $1,500 from De La Cruz. The man said Santana owed the money and that they had him bound and tied. Another man then took the phone and told De La Cruz that her husband would be released if they got the money. De La Cruz’s employer called the police, who instructed De La Cruz to go to the Reading Police Department. On her way there, De La Cruz received another phone call, this time informing her that she now had to pay $2,000. After arriving at the station, Detective Cabrera answered incoming calls, posing as De La Cruz’s brother.

¶ 4 De La Cruz testified that she had $3,800 saved to buy a house but that her husband knew about the money. She testified the money came from savings and from a $15,000 award received by Santana as a result of a lawsuit. Santana testified that he received either approximately $13,000 or $10,000 from the lawsuit and that he gave either all the money to De La Cruz or about $5,500 to her. De La Cruz also testified that she obtained the PFA against Santana because of changes in his personality which she suspected were drug related. She testified she did not know if he used any drugs other than marijuana, although Detective Cabrera testified De La Cruz told him Santana used several bags of cocaine a day.

¶ 5 Detective Cabrera eventually set up a meeting with the abductors and the defendant was subsequently arrested.

¶ 6 On appeal, Vicens-Rodriguez claims that since the testimony of De la Cruz and Santana was inconsistent on a wide variety of issues and that Santana admitted to lying about how much of the lawsuit money he gave his wife, he was entitled to the “false in one, false in all” jury charge.2

Discussion

¶ 7 “False in one, false in all” is a concept for assessing the weight of evidence. The maxim is simply a translation of the Latin phrase “falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus.” It currently means that a jury may disregard the testimony of a witness if the jury believes that witness deliberately, or willfully and corruptly, testified falsely about a material issue.3 The standard jury charge reads:

If you decide that a witness deliberately testified falsely about a material point [that is, about a matter that could affect the outcome of this trial,] you may for that reason alone choose to disbelieve the rest of his or her testimony. But you are not required to do so. You should consider not only the deliberate falsehood but also all other factors bearing on the witness’s credibility in deciding whether to believe other parts of [his][her] testimony.

[118]*118Pennsylvania Suggested Standard Jury Instruction (Crim) 4.15

¶ 8 The Advisory Committee Note to the charge notes that the necessity of the charge is questioned by cases such as Commonwealth v. Carey, 293 Pa.Super. 359, 439 A.2d 151 (1981), and Commonwealth v. Linder, 284 Pa.Super. 327, 425 A.2d 1126 (1981). The Committee also notes that the charge in its current form is largely derived from Commonwealth v. Parente, 184 Pa.Super. 125, 133 A.2d 561 (1957).

¶ 9 Our Court in Párente, which ultimately determined the charge was not applicable because the alleged falsehood was not corruptly sworn to,4 both defined the charge and criticized it:

John Henry Wigmore in the Third Edition of his treatise on Evidence, Vol. Ill, Sec. 1008, critics the maxim in the following caustic language: ‘It may be said, once and for all, that the maxim is in itself worthless;-first, in point of validity because in one form it merely contains in loose fashion a kernel of truth which no one needs be told, and in the others it is absolutely false as a maxim of life; and secondly, in point of utility, because it merely tells a jury what they may do in any event, not what they must do or must not do, and therefore it is a superfluous form of words. It is also in practice pernicious, first, because there is frequently a misunderstanding of its proper force, and secondly, because it has become in the hands of many counsel a mere instrument for obtaining new trials upon points wholly unimportant in themselves.’5

Parente, 133 A.2d at 564.

¶ 10 As early as 1913 our Court has commented upon the limited scope of the doctrine. In Blumenthal v. Green, 52 Pa.Super. 292 (1913), our Court stated that the doctrine was limited because a falsifier usually tells many truths and it is the province of the court and juries to sift the true from the false, with corroboration being a potent factor. The observation regarding the province of court and juries is particularly appropriate and relevant.

¶ 11 As late as 1986 the necessity of the charge has been questioned. In Burns v. Pepsi-Cola Metropolitan Bottling Co., 353 Pa.Super. 571, 510 A.2d 810 (1986), our Court once again commented:

The propriety and necessity of giving the instruction has been repeatedly questioned by our court in criminal cases. See, e.g., Commonwealth v. Maute, [336 Pa.Super. 394] 485 A.2d 1138 (Pa.Super.1984); Commonwealth v. Carey, [293 Pa.Super. 359] 439 A.2d 151 (Pa.Super.1981); Commonwealth v. Levenson, [282 Pa.Super. 406] 422 A.2d 1355 (Pa.Super.1980); Commonwealth v. Parente, [184 Pa.Super. 125] 133 A.2d 561 (Pa.Super.1957). In Commonwealth v. Parente, Id.

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Bluebook (online)
911 A.2d 116, 2006 Pa. Super. 304, 2006 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3542, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-vicens-rodriguez-pasuperct-2006.