Justia Criminal Law Opinion Summaries

Appellant Raghunandan Yandamuri, acting pro se, appealed the two death sentences he received after a jury convicted him of two counts of first-degree murder and related offenses for the kidnapping of a ten-month-old baby and the murders of the baby and her grandmother. After reviewing the trial court record, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court concluded the sentence imposed was not the product of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor, but rather was based on the evidence presented at trial. Furthermore, the Court concluded the evidence supported at least one aggravating circumstance for each of the murders committed. The judgment of sentence was therefore affirmed. View "Pennsylvania v. Yandamuri" on Justia Law

Appellant Charles Hicks was tried by jury and convicted of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse. For these convictions, he received the death penalty. He appealed. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined there was sufficient evidence to sustain appellant’s conviction for first degree murder, and his claim regarding Rule 404(b) evidence did not warrant relief. "Our careful review of the record reveals the sentence was not the product of passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary factor. To the contrary, the sentence was based on properly admitted evidence showing appellant intentionally killed the victim by cutting her throat with a knife. We further conclude the evidence was sufficient to support the aggravating circumstance of killing by means of torture as the Commonwealth expert witnesses testified the victim was severely beaten and strangled before being decapitated while she was still alive. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of sentence." View "Pennsylvania v. Hicks" on Justia Law

In a discretionary appeal by the Commonwealth, the issue presented for the Supreme Court’s review was whether the presumption that information of public record could not be considered “unknown” for purposes of proving newly-discovered facts exception to the time requirements of the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), applied to pro se petitioners who were incarcerated. The Supreme Court held that the presumption did not apply to pro se prisoner petitioners, and so it affirmed the Superior Court’s order remanding the matter to the trial court for further proceedings. View "Pennsylvania v. Burton" on Justia Law

Appellant Bernard Cousar appealed a Court of Common Pleas order denying, without a hearing, the guilt phase claims contained in his petition for relief from his death sentence under the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”). After review, the Supreme Court remanded this case back to the PCRA court for an evidentiary hearing limited to two issues pertaining to whether trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance for: (1) failing to show the ballistics evidence purportedly tying appellant to a series of crimes and murders was inconsistent; and (2) impeach an eyewitness’s in-court identification of appellant with the witness’s inability to identify appellant at his preliminary hearing. View "Pennsylvania v. Cousar" on Justia Law

In 2007, Junius Burno was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder for which he was sentenced to death. In this direct appeal, Burno challenged the admissibility of his confession to the murders, the sufficiency of the evidence, the alleged denial of his right to a speedy trial, and the admissibility of certain evidence establishing an aggravating factor for purposes of the death penalty. The Supreme Court rejected all but one of these challenges on the merits. The Court found merit to Burno’s argument that one of his statements to police was inadmissible because it was obtained during the course of plea negotiations. However, the Court ultimately concluded that the erroneous admission of this statement at trial was harmless. Consequently, the Court affirmed Burno’s death sentence. View "Pennsylvania v. Burno" on Justia Law

This was a capital direct appeal arising out of Appellant Ricky Smyrnes' participation, with a group of five other individuals, in the kidnapping, torture, and murder of Jennifer Lee Daugherty. The case was a companion one to that of co-perpetrator Melvin Knight. Appellant forced the victim to write a staged suicide note, after which Appellant and Knight dragged her to the bathroom; Knight repeatedly and fatally stabbed her; Appellant slit her wrists (albeit superficially); Appellant and Knight choked her as she lay dying; and her body was placed in a trash can. Appellant and Knight moved the can and body outside to a remote location, where these were discovered the next day. Apparently in light of developing evidence that a disturbance had occurred in Appellant’s apartment, police began to interview the co-perpetrators, and inculpatory statements were obtained. At the penalty hearing, the Commonwealth pursued, and the jury found present, the aggravating circumstances involving torture and a significant history of felony convictions involving the use or threat of personal violence. One or more jurors also found mitigation in the form of “mental illness, childhood physical abuse, [and] childhood sexual abuse.” Upon balancing, however, the jurors unanimously agreed that the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigation and, accordingly, returned the death verdict. This direct appeal followed, in which Appellant presented fifteen claims for relief. Finding no reversible error after review, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed Appellant's conviction and sentence. View "Pennsylvania v. Smyrnes" on Justia Law

Harrisburg Police Officer Darin Bates and Dauphin County Adult Probation Officer (APO) Richard Anglemeyer were traveling in an unmarked police vehicle in an area known for frequent drug activity when they observed two men conversing on a street corner; one of those men was Appellant Khiri Arter. Notwithstanding Appellant's objection, APO Anglemeyer performed a pat-down search of Appellant and felt a bulge in the right coin pocket of Appellant's pants. APO Anglemeyer reached into Appellant's pocket and retrieved what appeared to be crack cocaine. APO Anglemeyer then "turned the case over to Officer Bates," who arrested Appellant. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted allowance of appeal in this matter to determine whether illegally-obtained evidence which was suppressed during criminal proceedings should likewise be suppressed during parole and probation revocation proceedings pursuant to Article I, Section 8 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. The Court concluded that it should, reversed the Superior Court's order affirming the trial court's denial of Appellant's motion to suppress, vacated the order revoking Appellant's parole, and remanded to the trial court for further proceedings. View "Pennsylvania v. Arter" on Justia Law

Philadelphia police officers executed a search warrant for a residence where appellant Kareem Barnes lived with his two younger brothers. The search of one of the bedrooms yielded a firearm, assorted drugs and drug paraphernalia. As a result, the Commonwealth charged Appellant with possession with intent to deliver ("PWID"), possession of a firearm prohibited, and other related charges. Appellant waived his right to a jury trial and proceeded to a bench trial. At trial, Appellant's youngest brother testified that he, not Appellant, occupied the bedroom where the seized items were found and he, not Appellant, owned the contraband. The trial court, however, did not credit the brother's testimony, and instead, found Appellant guilty of the crimes charged. The trial court sentenced Appellant to 5 to 10 years' imprisonment on the PWID conviction, which included a 5-year mandatory minimum sentence based on the trial court's finding that Appellant was in constructive possession of drugs "in close proximity to" a firearm. No further penalty was imposed for the other convictions. This appeal presented the issue of whether a challenge, on direct appeal, alleging that a mandatory minimum sentence violated "Alleyne v. United States," (133 S.Ct. 2151 (2013)), implicating the "legality" of a sentence for issue preservation purposes, and thus was not waivable. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that an "Alleyne" challenge implicated legality of sentence, and that Appellant's sentence violated "Alleyne." Accordingly, the Court reversed the trial court's decision, vacated Appellant's judgment of sentence, and remanded for resentencing. View "Pennsylvania v. Barnes" on Justia Law

In 2012, Appellant Frankie Rosado was accused of sexually abusing his former girlfriend’s teenage daughter, whereupon he was charged with one count each of indecent assault, corruption of minors, and unlawful contact with minor. Appellant, then represented by a public defender, proceeded to trial, whereafter he was convicted of the aforementioned offenses and later sentenced to an aggregate term of 33 to 69 months imprisonment. Appellant hired new counsel to represent him at the post-sentencing and appellate stages of his case. Appellate Counsel filed a postsentence motion raising, as relevant here, a sufficiency-of-the-evidence claim, but the trial court denied relief. Appellate Counsel then filed a notice of appeal to the Superior Court which later summarily affirmed the trial court's judgment. Appellant later filed for post-conviction relief, arguing he received ineffective assistance of counsel. In his application, appellant argued that Appellate Counsel filed a document styled as a “preliminary” concise statement, wherein he raised three issues for appeal, but failed to file a revised concise statement. When the appellate brief was filed, Appellate Counsel abandoned the three issues raised in the preliminary statement and raised three others. In an unpublished memorandum opinion, the Superior Court, while noting the three issues preserved in Appellant’s concise statement, found a sufficiency-of-the-evidence claim to be waived, as it was not included therein. The PCRA court found that Appellate Counsel’s conduct did not amount to ineffectiveness per se, and, accordingly, denied relief. So the issue for the Supreme Court's review was whether filing an appellate brief which abandoned all preserved issues in favor of unpreserved ones constituted ineffective assistance of counsel per se. After careful review, the Court held that it did, and so the Court vacated the Superior Court’s order and remanded this case back to that court for further proceedings. View "Pennsylvania v. Rosado" on Justia Law

Sheldon Hannibal appealed an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County denying his petition for relief from his death sentence. In 1992, Hannibal and a co-defendant, Larry Gregory, got into an argument with the victim, Peter LaCourt. LaCourt was pistol whipped before attempting to flee. Hannibal shot LaCourt six times. A fifteen-year-old girl witnessed the robbery and beating, and later gave statements to police, implicating Hannibal and Gregory. She also testified at their preliminary hearings. However, she and two of her female friends were murdered "execution-style" in an apartment located in the same housing development where LaCourt had been murdered. The jury convicted appellant and codefendant of first-degree murder. Hannibal applied for post-conviction relief, raising a number of issues for the Supreme Court's review. Finding that Hannibal was not entitled to relief, the Court affirmed dismissal of his PCRA petition. View "Pennsylvania v. Hannibal" on Justia Law