Lead Opinion
Opinion by
Appellant, Raymond Peterson, was indicted, together with several alleged accomplices, on counts of armed robbery, receiving stolen goods and violation of the Uniform Firearms Act. Pretrial motions to suppress identification testimony and for separate trials on the two indictments were denied and a jury trial was held in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. The trial judge sustained appellant’s demurrers to all charges except the two counts of armed robbery. On these charges the jury returned verdicts of guilty. Motions for a new trial were denied, and Peterson was sentenced to two concurrent terms of from three and one-half to seven years imprisonment. An appeal to the Superior Court resulted in a per curiam affirmance, Commonwealth v. Peterson,
The facts pertinent to the first indictment are as follows: Around 10 a.m. on October 24, 1970, two men entered the Foodland Market in Oakmont and asked for the manager ostensibly to purchase money orders. The men accompanied the manager to his office, whereupon one of them produced a pistol and demanded money. The manager complied and the robbers fled
Evidence relevant to the second indictment indicates that on the evening of October 24, 1970, four men in what was described as a rust-colored car with a black top parked on Franklin Avenue in Wilkinsburg. Three alighted and entered the Little General Store. Having first asked to cash checks, one of the group then pulled out a sawed-off shotgun and demanded money. They fled with $14 from the two cash registers and $8 or $9 from an employee. A clerk tripped the alarm summoning police who arrived as the robbers were entering their get-away car. A high speed chase ensued which ended when the robbers’ car crashed. Three men, including appellant, were apprehended at or near the scene of the accident. The car contained a sawed-off shotgun and twenty one dollar bills. A .30 calibre revolver was found on the ground beneath the auto. The car bore the license number “14N-135”. Mr. Kaminski subsequently identified the car as the one used in the Oakmont robbery. At trial, two employees of this store identified Peterson as one of the robbers.
Peterson’s counsel made timely motions for severance prior to and again at trial and assigned the lower court’s declination as error in post-trial motions and in this appeal. The contention is that prejudice arose from the fact that Peterson wished to testify concerning the Oakmont robbery, but also desired to remain silent on the charge stemming from the Wilkinsburg hold-up. Since he did not wish to expose himself to cross-examination on the latter crime, he did not testify at all. It is also asserted that consolidation permitted
At the outset we are constrained to note the absence in this jurisdiction of any rule of criminal procedure covering the joining and severing of two or more indictments. Pa. R. Crim. P. 219(b) is confined by its language to situations where “two or more offenses” are charged “in the same indictment
In order to facilitate our disposition of this appeal, we adopt the approach to the consolidation of indictments embodied in Fed. R. Crim. P. 13, which provides: “The court mazy order two or more indictments, or in-formations or both to be tried together if the offenses, and the defendants if there is more than one, could have been joined in a single indictment or information. The procedure shall be the same as if the prosecution were under such single indictment or information.” [Emphasis supplied.]
Adoption of the federal approach returns the instant problem to the orbit and influence of the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, since we consider the consolidation of two indictments to be proper
Pa. R. Crim. P. 219(b) specifically permits joinder of “ [t] wo or more offenses ... in the same indictment if [the offenses] are of the same or similar character.” Here, as the Commonwealth’s brief characterized the similarities in these two offenses, there were (1) two robberies (2) of two grocery stores (3) located five to seven miles from each other (4) within twelve hours, by several persons (5) using an orange-colored automobile with a black top as a get-away car. Unquestionably, these similarities satisfy the standards for joinder. See Drew v. United States,
However, the fact that these offenses were of similar character, closely related in time, place and manner of execution, and hence could have been properly joined in the first instance does not settle matters. Our next and principal concern must be whether appellant, as asserted, was prejudiced as a result of the joint trial.
As a general proposition it is well established that the grant or denial of severance is a matter of discretion with the trial judge, whose conclusion will be reversed only for manifest abuse of discretion or prejudice and clear injustice to the defendant. Commonwealth v. Patrick,
We turn to the allegation that appellant was embarrassed and confounded in his defense since he wished to testify on one charge but not on the other. It is important to note that although Peterson asserted in his motion for severance that he wished to testify concerning the Oakmont robbery but remain silent on the other charge, he never indicated the nature of the testimony he wished to give on the first indictment.
While we are strenuously urged to follow the holding of Cross v. United States,
Proceeding from a factual situation which is the converse of Cross, Peterson’s argument is that in addition to the right to remain silent, one accused of crime also has the right to testify in his own behalf and therefore he was coerced into silence on the Oakmont robbery by the instant consolidation.
However, in Baker v. United States,
Baker was convicted on seven counts of a nine-count indictment charging offenses of income tax evasion and larceny. In his appeal he argued, inter alia, that severance should have been granted since he wished to testify as to some counts mid remain silent on others.
In its opinion the court stressed the element of discretion with regard to the grant of severance, inhering in the trial judge, saying at pp. 976-77:
“Appellant cites Cross for the proposition that ‘a timely and bona fide election by the accused to testify as to some counts and not as to others requires a Rule 14 severance.’ We think this reading of Cross is far too broad. Such a rule, in fact, would divest the court of all control over the matter of severance and entrust it to the defendant.
“. . . [N]o need for a severance exists until the defendant makes a convincing showing that he has
While it is obvious that Peterson’s need to refrain from testifying on Indictment No. 8871 stemmed from the fact that he was caught red-handed and any exculpatory testimony would thus sound contrived and be patently incredible, the lower court could only speculate as to the nature of the testimony he had to give concerning Indictment No. 8071 [Oakmont] since no informational proffer was made in appellant’s behalf. The contention that Peterson’s defense was embarrassed and confounded fails for want of proof.
If prejudice is held to erupt the moment a defendant asserts he wishes to testify on some but not all of the charges, then clearly control of severance has passed out of the hands of the trial court and into the control of the defendant. While the absolute right to
Appellant’s second contention is that he was prejudiced by the “probability” the jury used the evidence of the one crime to convict him of the other or cumulated the evidence to find guilt under both charges.
This brings us at once to the second and third kinds of prejudice that may occur when offenses of a similar character are joined.
It is black letter law that evidence of one crime is inadmissible against a defendant being tried for another crime because the fact of the commission of one offense is not proof of the commission of another. See Commonwealth v. Foose,
Although we conclude that notwithstanding any exception to the rule relating to other crimes, the evidence of each of these particular crimes would not have been admissible in a separate trial for the other,
In Drew, supra, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia recognized that joinder of similar offenses will often cause prejudice through the introduction of evidence which fails to meet the “other crimes” test. There the defendant wag indicted for the robbery of a store on July 27, 1962, and for the attempted robbery of a similar store on August 13, 1962. Joinder of the two crimes met the requirements of Buie 8(a) [similar offenses] but because the two fact situations were not similar enough to meet the qualifications of the other crimes rule, the failure of the trial court to grant separate trials was held to be reversible error. The court reasoned that prejudice had occurred in the joint trial because the evidence relating to the two offenses might have been confused by the jury. It cited cases which upheld joinder because all the evi
However, the appeals court also recognized that in certain instances of similar offense joinder when the admissibility test is not met but the evidence is capable of separation by the jury, the danger of confusion is not present and joinder is permissible. The present case, we believe, falls squarely within this exception.
In this regard the court was relying on United States v. Lotsch,
Order affirmed.
Notes
Although appellant objected to the in-court identifications made by six witnesses, the correction of the suppression judge’s decision was irrefragable and thus allocatur was limited to the issue of whether or not it was proper to consolidate these indictments in a single trial.
The more inclusive counterpart of Pa. R. Crim. P. 219(d) is Fed. R. Crim. P. 14 which provides: “If it appears that a defendant or the government is prejudiced by a joinder of offenses or of defendants in an indictment or information or by such joinder for trial together, the court may order an election or separate trials of counts, grant a severance of defendants or provide whatever other relief justice requires. In ruling on a motion by a defendant for severance the court may order the attorney for the government to deliver to the court for inspection in camera any statements or confessions made by the defendants which the government intends to introduce in evidence at the trial.” If the original joinder was improper, Rule 14 confers no discretion. In that event a severance must be ordered, and failure to sever constitutes reversible error. Rule 14 comes into play only if the original joinder was proper. It permits a severance, despite the propriety of the original joinder, if needed to avoid prejudice.
See also Johnson v. United States,
See also Robinson v. United States,
The ABA Project on Minimum Standards for Criminal Justice Standards Relating to Joinder and Severance §2.2 would give such an absolute right, for it is therein provided: “Whenever two or more offenses have been joined for trial solely on the ground that they are of the same or similar character, the defendant shall have a right to a severance of the offenses.” Enactment of such a rule would obviate many of the present difficulties with “similar transaction” joinder which are fully discussed in Note, Joint and Single Trials Under Rules 8 and 14 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. 74 Tale B.J. 553 (1965) and in Comment, Joinder of Counts as a Violation of an Accused’s Right to Remain Silent, 41 Temp. L.Q. 458 (1968).
As the Court explained in Bradley v. United States, supra,
It is obvious beyond need of discussion that evidence of other crimes could not have been introduced at separate trials of either indictment to show motive, intent or absence of mistake or accident. Nor do the facts surrounding these crimes show that there is a reasonable probability the same person committed both offenses due to a concurrence of unusual and distinctive facts relating to the manner in which the crimes were committed.
Armed robbery is often a fungible commodity and there is very little evidence overlap instantly. There was no particularly unusual or distinctive modus operandi. Although witnesses in both stores identified Peterson at trial, it was because they recalled
Concurrence Opinion
Concurring Opinion by
I concur in the result reached by the Court because from my review of the record I am satisfied that the test of Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 219 (b)—“transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan”—is here met. That is to say, I believe that the robberies of these two grocery stores, about five miles apart on the eastern periphery of metropolitan Pittsburgh, show a common scheme, plan or design, and that Peterson’s identity as a perpetrator of the second robbery (where he was caught red-handed) is probative in establishing that he was also a perpetrator of the first. Not only were the crimes closely related in time and space, but the getaway car in both was described as orange with a black vinyl top. At the Oakmont robbery it was said to have a license plate with a third digit of “N” and last two digits of either “35” or “53”, while at Wilkinsburg it was found to have the license “14N135”. At Oakmont
I therefore find it unnecessary to decide whether joinder of offenses under Rule 219 is permissible beyond the scope of the common scheme, plan or design exception to the evidentiary rule that a man’s past misconduct is not relevant in establisMng his conduct on a later occasion.
The majority may have held the two robberies here to be not part of a common scheme, plan or design because of tbe following language in Commonwealth v. Jackson,
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting Opinion by
I am compelled to dissent from the patently anomalous result produced by the majority’s opinion today.
Appellant was charged in two separate indictments with two separate and distinct robberies. Notwithstanding his timely motion for severance of these offenses, appellant was tried for both robberies in one
This result is both illogical and untenable. As the majority concedes, due to the potential for prejudicing the jury, “evidence of one crime is inadmissible against a defendant being tried for another crime because the fact of the commission of one offense is not proof [with certain limited exceptions] of the commission of another.” See Commonwealth n. Foose,
Moreover, as the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia stated in Drew v. United States,
The more logical and certainly the more just rule is that where, as here, a defendant is charged with two separate and distinct offenses, so dissimilar that it Avould be prejudicial error to admit evidence of one offense at a separate trial of the other, that defendant should have, on timely motion, an absolute right to severance of the offenses. The American Bar Association’s Standards Relating to Joinder and Severance categorically supports this vieAV by prowling for an absolute right to severance in cases of this nature. “Whenever two or more offenses have been joined for trial solely on the grounds that they are of the same or similar character, the defendant shall have a right to a severance of the offenses(Emphasis added.) American Bar Association Project on Minimum Standards for Criminal Justice, Standards Relating to Joinder and Severance, §2.2 (Approved Draft, 1968).
This rule would not eliminate the discretion of the trial judge to grant severance upon timely motion by the defendant. It would, however, restrict the exercise of that discretion to situations where the offenses involved were similar enough to meet the “other crimes” test, or where such offenses arose out of the same transaction, occurrence, or episode. Compare Commonwealth v. Campana,
Indeed, a review of the relevant case law convinces me that this rule is, in fact, to a great extent, being followed today. Thus, where offenses joined in a single trial have a common scheme, plan, or design sufficient to meet the other crimes test, or arose out of the same criminal transaction, occurrence, or episode, courts have found no abuse of discretion in denying a defendant’s
Accordingly, the two robberies, here, being separate criminal occurrences or episodes, appellant’s timely pretrial motion for severance should have been granted.
