Commonwealth v. Johnson, 192 A.3d 1149

On Aug. 20, 2016, Darrell Johnson approached Anthony Gibbons and Latia Lofton outside a bar with his face covered, pointed a gun at Gibbons, and snatched Lofton’s purse; a shootout ensued and Gibbons was wounded.
Cellphone text messages and Lofton’s statement showed she and Johnson planned the robbery together; Lofton later pleaded guilty to related charges.
Police recovered a handgun from Johnson’s home that matched the weapon used in the robbery; Johnson’s DNA was on the gun along with two other contributors.
Johnson was tried by jury and convicted of two counts each of robbery and aggravated assault, and one count each of criminal conspiracy, person not to possess a firearm, and carrying a firearm without a license; he was sentenced to 25–50 years’ imprisonment.
Post-sentence, Johnson (pro se) filed motions treated as timely; he appealed raising (1) weight of the evidence, (2) request to repeat the accomplice “corrupt and polluted source” charge in the final jury instructions, and (3) denial of a motion to dismiss the firearms-without-license charge at the close of the Commonwealth’s case.

Issue	Appellant’s Argument	Commonwealth’s / Trial Court’s Argument	Held
Weight of the evidence (credibility of Lofton)	Lofton’s testimony conflicted with Gibbons about the amount taken; this discrepancy undermines whether a robbery occurred	Jury as factfinder resolved conflicts; discrepancy was minor and did not shock the conscience	Denied — verdict not against weight of the evidence
Request to repeat “corrupt and polluted source” accomplice instruction in final charge	Court should have restated the cautionary accomplice instruction at final charge	Court had already given the instruction before Lofton testified and reminded jurors that all instructions, given together, govern	Denied — no abuse of discretion; jury presumed to follow instructions
Motion to dismiss firearms-without-license charge at close of Commonwealth’s case	Commonwealth failed to prove elements of carrying/concealment/transportation	Defendant presented a defense after denial of the demurrer, so the issue was not preserved; even on sufficiency review evidence supported conviction	Waived; alternatively denied on the merits — sufficient evidence

Commonwealth v. Hicks, 151 A.3d 216 (Pa. Super. 2016) (standards for weight-of-the-evidence review)
Commonwealth v. Lawrence, 165 A.3d 34 (Pa. Super. 2017) (requirement and purpose of corrupt-and-polluted-source accomplice instruction)
Commonwealth v. Cooper, 27 A.3d 994 (Pa. 2011) (pro se filings by represented criminal defendants are not automatically void)
Commonwealth v. Mickel, 142 A.3d 870 (Pa. Super. 2016) (standards for sufficiency review)
Commonwealth v. Scott, 176 A.3d 283 (Pa. Super. 2017) (mental-state requirement for §6106 firearm offenses)
Commonwealth v. Smith, 167 A.3d 782 (Pa. Super. 2017) (presumption that jurors follow trial court instructions)
Commonwealth v. Zambelli, 695 A.2d 848 (Pa. Super. 1997) (failure to preserve demurrer ruling when defendant presents a defense)