Commonwealth v. Spencer
Commonwealth v. Spencer
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This is an appeal from the judgment of sentence imposed by the Common Pleas Court of Philadelphia. With two judges concurring in the result, the Superior Court affirmed. Com. v. Spencer, 216 Pa. Superior Ct. 169, 263 A. 2d 923 (1970). We granted allocatur.
The charges against appellant stem from an unlawful entry into the apartment of a Patricia Fitzgerald on July 3, 1967. While in her bedroom, Mrs. Fitzgerald was suddenly confronted by a man brandishing a pistol who ordered her to move toward the bed. Fearing a possible rape and/or harm to her six-year-old daughter, Mrs. Fitzgerald began screaming and the man fled. Appellant was later arrested, indicted and found guilty by two juries on the charges of assault and unlawful entry.
On appeal we are confronted with two distinct issues: (1) whether it was reversible error for the trial
Following appellant’s arrest, a police stand-up
We begin with the proposition enunciated in Wade, that, “[w]here, as here, the admissibility of evidence of the line-up identification itself is not involved, a per se rule of exclusion of courtroom identification would be unjustified.” 388 U.S. at 240. While realizing that a line-up will ofttimes “crystalize the witnesses’ identification of the defendant for future reference,” id., the Supreme Court held “the proper test to be applied in these situations is that quoted in Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 488, ‘“[wjhether, granting establishment of the primary illegality, the evidencé to which the instant objection is made has been come at by ex-, ploitation of that illegality or instead by means sufficiently distinguishable to be purged of the primary taint.” Maguire, Evidence of Guilt, 221 (1959).’ ” 388 U.S. at 241. Because it could not be determined from
Applying the Wade standards, we note: (1) the complainant observed the man identified as appellant for five to ten minutes in a brightly lit room; (2) there was no substantial discrepancy of physical description between any pre-stand-up description and the appellant’s actual description; (3) complainant identified appellant through photographs prior to arrest; (4) the complainant consistently identified the appellant at every stage of these proceedings and testified she would “never forget his face”; and (5) there was only a three-day interval between the alleged act and the stand-up. Accordingly, we conclude: (1) the witness’ courtroom identification, apart from the dental testimony, was not tainted by the illegal stand-up and (2) this unequivocal courtroom identification renders harmless the error in permitting the dental identification.
Secondly, appellant urges us to reverse his conviction because of the trial judge’s use of the so-called “Allen” charge. The second trial commenced on January 13, 1969, and the jury retired to deliberate after hearing the judge’s initial charge at 11:13 a.m. on January 17, 1969. At 4:40 p.m. on the same date, the foreman of the jury reported an inability to reach a verdict on both counts as the jury was hopelessly deadlocked.
After the jury returned to the courtroom, the trial judge, substantially quoting Allen, charged as follows: “ £In a large proportion of cases absolute certainty cannot be expected. Though a verdict must be the verdict of each individual juror and not a mere acquiescence to fellow jurors, nonetheless juries should examine the question of guilt or innocence with candor and with proper regard and deference to the opinions of each other. It is the duty of the jury to decide the case if they can conscientiously do so. The jury should listen with a disposition to be convinced to each other’s arguments. If much the larger number of the jurors are fully convinced, a dissenting juror should consider whether his doubt is a reasonable one if it made no
The jury then returned for further deliberation and later had dinner between 6:20 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Returning to the courtroom at 9:51 p.m. for an account of one witness’ testimony, the judge ordered the playback of a tape recording of that witness at 10:45 p.m. Upon hearing the recordings, the jury again retired. Finally, at 12:20 a.m., January 18, 1969, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on both counts.
In the past this Court has held that a conviction will be reversed if the jury’s verdict was effectively coerced by the trial judge’s charge: Com. v. Wilmer, 434 Pa. 397, 254 A. 2d 24 (1969) (initial charge); Com. v. Holton, 432 Pa. 11, 247 A. 2d 228 (1968) (supplemental charge). See, also, Jenkins v. United States, 380 U.S. 445 (1965). Hence the precise issue is whether the Allen charge has such a coercive effect.
Our ruling herein on the Allen charge is prospective and applicable only to trials which take place after the date of this decision. Cf. Great Northern Ry. v. Sunburst Oil & Refining Co., 287 U.S. 358 (1932). As to trials which occurred prior to the date of this decision, we will deal with appeals from such trials on an ad hoc basis and will examine the trial record to determine whether or not the Allen charge unduly influenced the jury.
In the case at bar, we have independently examined the record and are persuaded by the rationale of the Superior Court: “the jurors in the instant case were not coerced. The jury’s verdict came seven hours after the Allen charge was given. In those seven hours, the jurors deliberated for three separate intervals. They also had what appears to have been a leisurely dinner. They were also sufficiently aware of their duty and their need of information to return to the courtroom to ask that certain testimony be read to them. This is not the mark of a coerced jury. Accordingly, we hold the giving of the Allen Charge in this case to be harmless.” 216 Pa. Superior Ct. at 174, 263 A. 2d at 926.
Deadlocked juries are a matter of concern to both the bench and the bar. Recently, Standards Relating to Trial by Jury have been promulgated by the American Bar Association.
Judgment affirmed.
Prior to the trial in question, appellant was acquitted, by a different judge and jury, of the charges of burglary and rape but found guilty of assault and unlawful entry. Subsequent thereto, the first trial judge granted appellant’s motion for a new trial because of certain errors in the charge. Retried on the lesser offenses of unlawful entry and assault before a second judge and jury, appellant was convicted and sentenced, after disposition of post-trial motions, to a term of imprisonment not less than one year nor more than two years on the assault charge and a term of five months to one year on the unlawful entry charge.
In the jargon of the Philadelpiha Police Department, a standup occurs when a series of men individually confront the identifying witness whereas a line-up involves the same set of men collectively presented to the identifying witness. However, the two terms are so loosely interchanged in the record that we cannot determine, with certainty, whether appellant was identified in a line-up or a stand-up. In the posture of this particular appeal, the distinction is academic since counsel was not present. See, e.g., Com. v. Whiting, 439 Pa. 205, 266 A. 2d 738 (1970).
Though the same counsel represented appellant at both trials and should have been aware of the correct basis for objection to the dental identification, counsel instead based his objection on the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, which was overruled. Eather than impugn either the defense attorney or
The charge in Allen was substantiaUy as follows: “. . . although the verdict must be the verdict of each individual juror, and not a mere acquiescence in the conclusion of his fellows, yet they should examine the question submitted with candor, and with a proper regard and deference to the opinions of each other; that it was their duty to decide the case if they could conscientiously do so; that they should listen, with a disposition to be convinced to each other’s arguments; that, if much the larger number were for conviction, a dissenting juror should consider whether his doubt was a reasonable one which made no impression upon the minds of so many men, equaUy honest, equally intelligent with himself. If, upon the other hand, the majority were for acquittal, the minority ought to ask themselves whether they might not. reasonably doubt the correctness of a judgment which was not concurred in by the majority.”
Thoroughly researching the thought of many commentators as well as the precedents in other jurisdictions, the Third Circuit,
A third, problem enunciated by the Superior Court and the Third Circuit involves the criminally accused’s right to a unani•niious jury: “Inherent in a defendant’s' right to a verdict by a unanimous jury is his ’right to á new trial should the 'jurors fail to agree,” 216 Pa. Superior Ct. at 174, 263 A. 2d at 926. See, also, 412 F. 2d at 416. Dike the Supreme Court, “[w]e intimate no view whether or not the requirement of unanimity is an indispensable element of the Sixth Amendment jury trial.” Williams v. Florida, 399 U.S. 78, 100 n. 46 (1970). Any discussion of this point is irrelevant in'.light of the.already noted, problem.
Those standards provide: “5.4 Length of deliberations; deadlocked jury (a) Before the jury retires for deliberation, the court may give an instruction which informs the jury: (i) that in order to return a verdict, each juror must agree thereto; (ii) that jurors have a duty to consult with one another and to deliberate with a view to reaching an agreement, if it can be done without violence
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting Opinion by
I endorse without reservation the majority’s stated intention to forbid use of the Allen charge in trials that take place after the date of this decision and its approval and commendation for future trials of the jury instructions pertaining to deadlocked juries recommended by the. ABA Project oh Minimum' Standards for Criminal “Justice, Trial by Jury §5.4 (Approved Draft 1968). I must dissent, however, in light of the majority’s purely prospective limitation, of its ruling.
It is not at all rare and indeed often wise for an appellate court to hold a newly created rule of law inapplicable to prior cases. Even in such cases, however, it has been the custom of this Court as well as that of the United States Supreme Court to apply the new rule at least to the very case in which it is announced. The rationale underlying this practice has been aptly summarized as follows: “At least two compelling reasons exist for applying the new rule to the instant case while otherwise limiting its application to cases arising in the future. First, if we were to merely announce the new rule without applying it here, such announcement would amount to mere dictum. Second, and more important, to refuse to apply the new rule here would deprive appellant of any benefit from his effort and expense in challenging the old rule which we now declare erroneous. Thus there would be no incentive to appeal the upholding of precedent since appellant could not in any event benefit from a reversal invalidating it.” Molitor v. Kaneland Community Unit District, 18 Ill. 2d 11, 28, 163 N.E. 2d 89, 97 (1959).
These considerations are significant and apply with equal force to the instant case. I therefore dissent.
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