Com. v. Thompson, J., Com. v. Thompson, J. No. 921 WDA 2016

Jumar Anthony Thompson was convicted by a jury of carrying a firearm without a license (18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6106) and possession of a designer drug (35 P.S. § 780-113(a)(36)); he was convicted by the bench of careless driving.
Facts: Thompson rented a vehicle in the morning; later that evening he was stopped driving alone. Officers observed drug paraphernalia, loose vegetable matter, and a duffel bag in plain view.
A search of the duffel bag revealed 61 individually sealed packages of synthetic marijuana and a handgun; Thompson had over $600 in cash and no license to carry the gun.
Post-trial, Thompson filed a pro se pre-sentence "Motion To Arrest Judgment" raising sufficiency and weight arguments; counsel reviewed the filing but Thompson did not pursue the weight claim in his counseled post-sentence motion.
Thompson timely filed a counseled post-sentence motion asserting insufficiency of the evidence and a suppression challenge, but not a preserved weight-of-the-evidence claim.
The trial court (and this Court) found the Commonwealth presented sufficient evidence for constructive possession of the firearm and synthetic marijuana; the Superior Court affirmed the judgment of sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Weight of the evidence	Commonwealth contends weight claim was waived and, if considered, verdict did not shock justice	Thompson argued witness credibility and that verdict was against the weight of the evidence	Waived for failure to properly preserve; alternatively, trial court would have denied relief because verdict did not shock the court
Sufficiency of the evidence	Commonwealth argues evidence (plain view items, duffel contents, cash, sole occupancy) proved constructive possession and elements of offenses	Thompson argued evidence was insufficient to prove elements beyond a reasonable doubt	Affirmed: evidence sufficient to support convictions for unlicensed firearm and possession of synthetic marijuana

Gillard v. Commonwealth, 850 A.2d 1273 (Pa. Super. 2004) (weight-of-evidence claim must be raised with trial court or is waived)
Burkett v. Commonwealth, 830 A.2d 1034 (Pa. Super. 2003) (failure to present weight claim to trial court constitutes waiver)
Champney v. Commonwealth, 832 A.2d 403 (Pa. 2003) (standard for appellate review of weight claims; reversal only if verdict shocks the conscience)
Rivera v. Commonwealth, 983 A.2d 1211 (Pa. 2009) (trial court denial of new trial on weight grounds is highly deferential)
Widmer v. Commonwealth, 744 A.2d 745 (Pa. 2000) (distinction between sufficiency and weight challenges and their remedies)
Wilson v. Commonwealth, 825 A.2d 710 (Pa. Super. 2003) (sufficiency review does not include credibility determinations)
Ellis v. Commonwealth, 626 A.2d 1137 (Pa. 1993) (no constitutional right to hybrid representation)