COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. William David LOCCISANO, Appellant (two cases)
Superior Court of Pennsylvania
Nov. 22, 1976
366 A.2d 276
The Superior Court and the Commonwealth Court shall have power pursuant to general rules, on their own motion or upon petition of any party, to transfer any appeal to the other court for consideration and decision with any matter pending in such other court involving the same or related questions of fact, law or discretion.
Howard Klebe, Asst. Dist. Atty., New Castle, for appellee.
Before WATKINS, President Judge, and JACOBS, HOFFMAN, CERCONE, PRICE, VAN der VOORT and SPAETH, JJ.
JACOBS, Judge:
Appellant herein, William Loccisano, has brought two appeals for review by this Court. The first is from the judgment of sentence at No. 315, 1971 in the court below charging a violation of
I
On March 22, 1971 a search warrant was obtained and a search conducted of appellant‘s home. The object of the search was to discover marijuana. A small quantity of marijuana, approximated to be less than four grams, was found in the refrigerator and two pipes containing a residue of marijuana were found about the house. Appellant was subsequently indicted for possession of a narcotic drug in violation of
Throughout the proceedings appellant consistently registered his objections to the array of trial jurors contending that electors between the ages of 18 to 21 years were systematically excluded from the jury lists.3
The selection of juries in Lawrence County, being a county of the 5th class, is provided for by the
Appellant relies heavily on the recent Supreme Court case of Taylor v. Louisiana, 419 U.S. 522, 95 S.Ct. 692, 42 L.Ed.2d 690 (1975). The Supreme Court there held that a male defendant was improperly convicted of aggravated kidnapping, during which he committed rape and robbery at knifepoint, because women were systematically excluded from the jury lists. Although women
In the present case we cannot conclude that appellant has shown that young voters were excluded from his jury panel with the type of systematic discrimination that was evident in regard to women voters in Taylor v. Louisiana, supra. Here it was shown that the jury wheel was filled in 1971 for the year of 1972. Because the procedure of mailing out notices and receiving responses from prospective jurors takes about eight months, the most recent list of electors available at the time the selection procedure began was that of November 3, 1970. This method of jury selection is followed each year, so each year there will be an identical time gap between the list used and the actual drawing of a jury. We recognize that the consequence of this delay is to create a hiatus during which the youngest, newly registered voters will not be called for jury duty; however some allowance of time must be granted for the administrative process to function and a group of prospective jurors to be assembled.
The Supreme Court recognized the necessity for some time lag in jury selection in Hamling v. United States, 418 U.S. 87, 94 S.Ct. 2887, 41 L.Ed.2d 590 (1974). There the appellant claimed that the 18 to 24 age group had been excluded when the jury wheel was not filled for almost four years. The Court noted that “some play in the joints of the jury-selection process is necessary in
Some administrative delay must be viewed as inevitable. How long a delay will be permitted in bringing a jury list up to date will necessarily depend on each particular case. In the instant case, appellant has not shown any deliberate discrimination against youthful voters. He has merely demonstrated that a period of two years elapsed before the lists containing the youngest voters following the twenty-sixth amendment became the basis for selection of a jury panel. Viewing these circumstances in light of the authority cited above, we cannot agree that appellant was denied his right to trial by an impartial jury representing a fair cross section of the community. Therefore, we must affirm the judgment of sentence.
II
On September 19, 1973, appellant was tried before a jury on one count of selling marijuana in violation of
Appellant‘s defense was entrapment. His own testimony and that of his wife and two friends indicated that he had met the informer about six months before the sale and that Red had commenced visiting his house with great frequency about two weeks before the sale. During these visits, which numbered between eight and twelve according to appellant and his wife, Red would importune appellant and his wife to supply him with some
There is virtually no inconsistency between the evidence presented by the Commonwealth and that presented by the appellant in this case. Appellant did not deny that the sale occurred as testified to by the police. The Commonwealth did not present any evidence in conflict with appellant‘s evidence of entrapment. The trial judge charged the jury on entrapment defining the defense as it existed in the case law of this Commonwealth prior to the new
It is the position of the appellant that the trial judge erred in refusing his suggested point for charge relating to the burden of proof in an entrapment defense. Had the judge charged on this point, the jury would have
At the time the alleged offense in the present case was committed, the law on entrapment in Pennsylvania was in accord with the position of the majority of the United States Supreme Court in Sherman v. United States, 356 U.S. 369, 78 S.Ct. 819, 2 L.Ed.2d 848 (1958) and Sorrells v. United States, 287 U.S. 435, 53 S.Ct. 210, 77 L.Ed. 413 (1932).8 Commonwealth v. Conway, 196 Pa.Super. 97, 173 A.2d 776 (1961); Commonwealth v. Werner, 188 Pa.Super. 509, 149 A.2d 509, allocatur refused, 188 Pa.Super. xxviii (1959); Commonwealth v. Kutler, 173 Pa.Super. 153, 96 A.2d 160, allocatur refused, 173 Pa.Super. xxv (1953); Commonwealth v. Wasson, 42 Pa.Super. 38, allocatur refused, 42 Pa.Super. xxxi (1910). See also, United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973). The test for entrapment outlined in these cases focuses on the defendant and his predisposition to commit the crime charged. “The defence of entrapment in Pennsylvania, as derived from our cases in the light of the other authorities just mentioned, arises only when a law enforcement officer, by employing methods of persuasion or inducement which create a substantial risk that persons not otherwise ready to commit the criminal act will do so, actually induces such a person to commit the act.
“This rule requires, before the defence becomes available, (1) a defendant not disposed to commit the crime, and also (2) police conduct likely to entrap the innocently disposed.” Commonwealth v. Conway, supra 196 Pa.Super. at 103-04, 173 A.2d at 779-80 (footnote omitted).
This is not to say that artifice and strategem cannot be used by law enforcement officials and their agents to detect crime. Merely affording opportunities or facilities for the commission of crime by one who already had the criminal intent to engage in such a crime does not defeat the prosecution. Commonwealth v. Wright, 235 Pa.Super. 289, 340 A.2d 544 (1975); Commonwealth v. Klein, 222 Pa.Super. 409, 294 A.2d 815 (1972). However, if a defendant is not disposed to commit the crime but is nevertheless induced to participate in criminal be-
In the present case, appellant showed that the police informer, Red Lytinen, had befriended appellant and frequently visited his home socializing with his friends and family. The informer himself brought up the subject of drugs and requested appellant to get him some marijuana, first in exchange for other drugs and later for money. When appellant repeatedly refused, he persisted in his pleas for drugs in an effort to wear down appellant‘s resistance. These facts are parallel to those in both Sorrells v. United States, supra, which defined the entrapment defense, and Sherman v. United States, supra, where entrapment was found as a matter of law. In Sorrells the government prohibition agent gained the confidence of the defendant, a World War I veteran, by trading war stories with him about his old division, until defendant acquiesced in the agent‘s repeated requests for liquor. In Sherman the agent came to know the defendant through a program to overcome narcotics addiction, and after repeated efforts which the defendant at first attempted to resist, succeeded in inducing defendant to supply him with drugs and also return to the habit again. Despite the defendant‘s prior record in drug dealing and possession, entrapment was found as a matter of law. These two landmark cases have in common with the present case the allegation of the defendant that his intent to avoid crime was worn down by an agent who insinuated himself into the defendant‘s confidence and then pleaded with him to perform the criminal favor.
Had the Commonwealth witnesses supported the appellant‘s story in this case, we might be inclined to find entrapment as a matter of law. However, the Commonwealth witnesses neither support nor deny appellant‘s defense. The officers who relied on the informant to implicate the appellant in drug dealing did not know how
This burden of proof was misplaced. The Supreme Court stated in Commonwealth v. Rose, supra 457 Pa. at 389, 321 A.2d at 884 “[i]n any criminal prosecution, the Commonwealth has an unshifting burden to prove beyond a reasonable doubt all elements of the crime.” Although Rose concerned a first degree murder conviction and a defense of intoxication, the opinion discussed generally the burden of proof relating to all affirmative defenses. “As to all these claims for exoneration [self-defense, duress, insanity, intoxication], their truth goes in final analysis to the guilt, to the rightness of punishing, the accused. Thus it seems inconsistent to demand as to some elements of guilt, such as an act of killing, that the jury be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt, and as to others, such as duress or capacity to know right from wrong, the jury may convict though they have such doubt. Accordingly, the recent trend is to treat these so-called matters of defense as situations wherein the accused will usually have the first burden of producing evidence in order that the issue be raised and submitted to the jury, but at the close of the evidence the jury must be told that if they have a reasonable doubt of the element thus raised they must acquit.” Commonwealth v. Rose, supra at 388, 321 A.2d at 884, quoting McCormick, Evidence § 341 at 802 (2d ed. 1972). Accord, Commonwealth v. Graves, supra; Commonwealth v. Vogel, 458 Pa. 200, 321 A.2d 633 (1974); Commonwealth v. Demmitt, supra. See also, Commonwealth v. Dixon, 235 Pa.Super. 415, 341 A.2d 147 (1975).9 The requirement that the Commonwealth prove each element of the crime charged beyond a reasonable doubt is not alleviated by the defendant‘s presentation of an affirmative defense. On the contrary, rather than be required to prove his freedom from guilt, a defendant is shielded by the presumption of innocence. Because it is the Commonwealth‘s burden to persuade the jury of defendant‘s guilt, the defendant is not required to present any evidence in order to prevail. In Commonwealth v. Bonomo, 396 Pa. 222, 151 A.2d 441 (1959) the Supreme Court noted that any requirement that the defendant prove the absence of some criminal element would be inconsistent with the presumption of innocence. “It is utterly inconsistent, therefore, for courts to hold the prosecution has the burden of proving every essential element beyond a reasonable doubt even where the defendant offers no evidence; but that if he does offer any evidence the prosecution is relieved of the burden to prove that one of the essential elements he challenges.” Commonwealth v. Bonomo, supra at 230, 151 A.2d at 446.
In bringing this charge against the appellant the Commonwealth asserts that he sold a police officer marijuana because he was criminally inclined to engage in the sale of a prohibited substance; that the influence and cooperation of the officer and agent was irrelevant in bringing the sale to be because it was appellant‘s design or intent to make such a sale before it was suggested to him by the police or agent. The appellant‘s defense is that he had no intention of engaging in illegal activity until he was persuaded to do so by the officer‘s agent. The element in dispute is criminal intent. It is the Commonwealth‘s
There can be no burden on a defendant to disprove an element of the offense. It is therefore error to instruct the jury that the defendant is required to prove that he had no predisposition to sell marijuana and that law enforcement officials by their conduct actually induced the crime. This result is not only in harmony with Commonwealth v. Rose, supra, and Commonwealth v. Demmitt, supra, but also is consistent with the federal courts’ view of the burden in entrapment cases.10 See United States v. Watson, 489 F.2d 504 (3d Cir. 1973); Government of the Virgin Islands v. Cruz, 478 F.2d 712 (3d Cir. 1973); United States v. Silver, 457 F.2d 1217 (3d Cir. 1972). We therefore reverse the judgment of sentence on this charge and grant appellant a new trial.
Judgment of sentence is affirmed on No. 315, 1971, charging possession of marijuana. Judgment of sentence is reversed on No. 688A, 1972, charging sale of marijuana, and the case is remanded.
CERCONE, J., files a concurring and dissenting opinion, in which VAN der VOORT, J., concurs in the result.
CERCONE, Judge (concurring and dissenting):
While I agree with Part I of the majority opinion, I disagree with the analysis and conclusion reached in Part II.
The majority is simply incorrect when it states: “The appellant‘s defense is that he had no intention of engaging in illegal activity until he was persuaded to do so by the officer‘s agent. The element in dispute is criminal intent.” (Majority opinion at 243 Pa.Super. p. 536). What the majority has done to reach its desired conclusion, I submit, is equivocate on the meaning of “intent.”
The predisposition to commit a crime as used with respect to the entrapment defense has absolutely nothing to do with criminal intent in the instant case.1 The criminal intent in question herein is whether appellant intended to sell a controlled substance (marijuana) at the time that he sold it. For the purpose of proving the offense, it makes no difference whether he “intended” to sell the marijuana one week or one minute before he did so; a fortiori, it matters little whether he would have formulated such a previous “intent” were it not for the actions of an agent provocateur.
The defense of entrapment rests upon a theory of estoppel; that is, the government is estopped from prosecuting an individual for committing a crime that would not have been committed without the provocation of the government. R. Perkins, Criminal Law 1035-36 (2d ed. 1969). Thus, the inquiry with respect to that defense is whether the intent to commit the crime originated
Technically, when entrapment is the sole defense, the defendant‘s conduct has fulfilled all the elements of the substantive crime. See Comment, 59 Iowa L.Rev. 655 (1974); Note, 20 U.Fla.L.Rev. 63, 65 (1967); Mikell, The Doctrine of Entrapment in Federal Courts, 90 U.Pa.L.Rev. 245, 255 (1942). As the court stated in Whiting v. United States, 321 F.2d 72, 75-76 (1st Cir. 1963), cert. denied, 375 U.S. 884, 84 S.Ct. 158, 11 L.Ed.2d 114:
“So far as the individual defendant is concerned the defense has no logical core. The fact that a defendant‘s actions were induced by a government representative does not mean that he did not commit all of the elements of the offense. If the inducement had come from parties having no connection with the government it would absolve him in no degree.” See also Carbajal-Portillo v. United States, 396 F.2d 944, 948 (9th Cir. 1968).
Thus, the entrapment defense has to do with the “manufacturing” of a crime by the government; it does not speak to the question of whether the elements of a crime proper have been committed. Lopez v. United States, 373 U.S. 427, 434, 83 S.Ct. 1381, 10 L.Ed.2d 462 (1963). If the defendant‘s predisposition to commit a crime were equivalent to criminal intent, it should make no difference whether the government or a private person instilled the intent in the defendant‘s mind; but, as pointed out above, this distinction is the very crux of the defense. See also W. LaFave & A. Scott, Handbook on
Indeed, the error is so obvious that I have found no other court which has made it. True, some federal courts do require the government to disprove entrapment beyond a reasonable doubt. See, e.g., United States v. Watson, 489 F.2d 504 (3rd Cir. 1973). But, the federal courts which have so placed this burden on the government have employed their supervisory powers to do it. Id. at 511. See also Dixon v. District of Columbia, 129 U.S.App.D.C. 341, 394 F.2d 966, 970 (1968). Those courts decided that a charge to the jury allocating the burden of proof between the government and the defendant with respect to the two elements of entrapment was unnecessarily confusing, and that the entire matter of disproving entrapment should be left with the government. United States v. Watson, supra. That is, prior practice under the federal law, which was similar to Pennsylvania‘s prior law,2 required the defendant to prove by a preponderance of the evidence, that the government‘s conduct was sufficient to induce a previously innocently disposed person to engage in criminal conduct; thereafter, the government had the burden of proving that the defendant was not a person who fell within the protected class of persons (i. e., those not predisposed to commit a crime).3 Especially since the government was given the strategic advantage of proving prior crimes to establish predisposition it
Of course, the federal courts were struggling with the old standard of entrapment (provocative government conduct plus defendant‘s innocent predisposition). See United States v. Russell, 411 U.S. 423, 93 S.Ct. 1637, 36 L.Ed.2d 366 (1973). In Pennsylvania, the
“(a) General rule. - A public law enforcement official or a person acting in cooperation with such an official perpetrates an entrapment if for the purpose of obtaining evidence of the commission of an offense, he induces or encourages another person to engage in conduct constituting such offense by either:
(1) making knowingly false representations designed to induce the belief that such conduct is not prohibited; or
(2) employing methods of persuasion or inducement which create a substantial risk that such an offense will be committed by persons other than those who are ready to commit it.
(b) Burden of proof. - Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, a person prosecuted for an offense shall be acquitted if he proves by a preponderance of evidence that his conduct occurred in response to an entrapment.”
As is readily apparent, the burden of proving defendant‘s innocent predisposition prior to committing the crime is no longer relevant to the defense of entrapment, so the need for discussion of whether entrapment involves “criminal intent” is obsolescent. Furthermore, subsection b of
Therefore, I dissent.
VAN der VOORT, J., concurs in the result.
