Com. v. Rountree, D. ( 2018 )

J-S02038-18
NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
PENNSYLVANIA : PENNSYLVANIA
:
:
v. :
:
:
DOMINIC ROUNTREE :
: No. 951 EDA 2017
Appellant
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence January 6, 2017
In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at
No(s): CP-51-CR-0011647-2015
BEFORE: BOWES, J., NICHOLS, J., and RANSOM, J.*
MEMORANDUM BY RANSOM, J.: FILED MARCH 27, 2018
Appellant, Dominic Rountree, appeals from the judgment of sentence of
eighteen to thirty-six years of incarceration followed by five years of
probation, imposed January 6, 2017, following a jury trial resulting in his
conviction for third-degree murder and possession of an instrument of crime.1
We affirm.
We derive the following facts from the trial court opinion, which in turn
are supported by the record.
[In September 2015, Appellant lived in a house with his
father, John Rountree (“John”), and Appellant’s two brothers,
Andre Rountree (“Andre”), and Jacquell Rountree, the decedent.
Notes of Testimony (N.T.), 11/1/2016, at 71-73. The brothers]
shared one room in the basement which was separated into three
sections by curtains. Id. at 72-74. The decedent shared his
section of the basement with his girlfriend, Brittney Clark [(“Ms.
____________________________________________
1 See 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 2502(c) and 907(a), respectfully.
* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
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Clark”)], and their two children. Id. at 74. On the day of the
incident, Andre [] had moved out of the house. Id. at 75-76.
[John testified that when he] returned home that day, the
decedent, [Ms.] Clark, their two children and [John's] daughter,
Fatima Rountree, were sitting in the living room. Id. [Appellant]
arrived shortly thereafter and had a conversation with his father
in the dining room. The dining room is adjacent to the living room.
[Appellant] told his father that he wanted to use [Andre’s] space
in the basement for a short period of time. Id. at 77-78. John []
told [Appellant] that he did not want him to take [Andre's] space
[]. Id. [Appellant] persisted, going back and forth with his father,
in his quest to obtain the space until the decedent entered the
dining room and told the [Appellant,] “you heard what dad said.”
Id. at 78. [Appellant] answered: “I was just talking to dad. Let
me and dad talk.” Id. [Appellant] and the decedent began to
argue loudly. Id. John [] walked into the kitchen, which is
adjacent to the dining room, to get a sandwich. Id. at 79. When
he came out to go upstairs, he heard [Appellant] say to the
decedent: “I don't want to argue with you no more. I am going.”
Id. at 80. John [] then went upstairs and ate his sandwich. Id.
Approximately two to six minutes later he heard shots, and [Ms.]
Clark screaming. Id. at 81-82. John [] then returned downstairs
and saw [Ms.] Clark holding the decedent on the front porch. Id.
at 82-83. John [] went inside and called 911. The [Appellant]
left. [] Id. at 84-85.
John [] further testified that approximately two to four
months prior to the instant case, the decedent stabbed [Appellant]
in the face.[2] Id. at 114-115. [Appellant] had to go to the
hospital and returned with bandages in his face. Id. at 115. He
refused to press charges against his brother. N.T., 11/3/2016, at
111. It was [John’s] impression that it was not a serious incident.
N.T., 11/1/2016, at 114-115.
[Ms.] Clark testified that when [Appellant] was talking to
John [] about using [Andre's] space in the basement, the decedent
interrupted and he and [Appellant] began to argue. N.T. 11/2/16,
at 22-23. They got into each other's face[s] and both went down
into the basement. Id. at 28-29. After approximately three to
____________________________________________
2The stabbing occurred in the month preceding the incident underlying this
appeal. N.T., 11/3/2016, at 160-62.
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five minutes, the decedent returned to the dining room.
Approximately one minute later, [Appellant] came upstairs. The
decedent stood up and said: "What are you going to do with that?"
[Ms.] Clark went to get her son who was sitting in a highchair at
the table because she saw [Appellant] holding a silver gun and
putting bullets into it. Id., at 32-34, 36. The decedent then stood
in front of [Ms.] Clark and their son and reached for the gun. He
was approximately two to three feet away from [Appellant] and
put his right hand out. The decedent was not trying to attack
[Appellant] but was trying to retrieve the gun. Id. at 39.
[Appellant] then took a step back, aimed at the decedent’s lower
abdomen and shot the gun. Id. at 40. The decedent stumbled
back and [Appellant] shot again. Id. at 41. The decedent turned
and ran toward the front door. Id. at 43. [Appellant] followed the
decedent and shot at him a third time striking him in his back. Id.
at 44. [Appellant] followed the decedent onto the front porch and
began to pistol whip the decedent. [Appellant] then ran down the
steps[. ] Id. at 50-51.
[Ms.] Clark further testified that on a previous occasion the
decedent had threatened [Appellant] with a knife but was
unarmed on the date of the incident. Id. at 97.
[Associate Medical Examiner Dr. Khalil Wardak [(“Dr.
Wardak”)] performed the autopsy on the decedent [and discussed
his findings and conclusions in a document titled, Death Certificate
Information”]. N.T. 11/3/16, at 5-22. The decedent suffered two
gunshot wounds, one to the elbow and one to the right lower back.
Id. at 10. The bullet that entered the back went through the
decedent's heart, lung and liver. Id. at 11. It was the fatal
wound. Id. at 13. [Dr. Wardak testified that the gunshot wound
to the right lower mid-back travelled right to left, back to front,
and upward and became lodged in the left, front side of the body.
Id. at 11, 16. Dr. Wardak noted the location of the entrance, exit
and retrieval points of the bullets that struck decedent’s body on
a body diagram. This diagram depicted that the bullet that
entered from the right mid-back was recovered from the
decedent’s right front chest.] Id.at 10.
A toxicology test revealed that the decedent had PCP in his
blood in the amount of 100 micrograms per milliliter. Dr. Wardak
testified that the concentration of PCP in an individual's blood does
not reflect the behavior of the individual. Rather, it depends on
the mode of use; whether ingested, smoked, or injected, and
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genetic factors, such as whether the individual is a fast or slow
metabolizer. Dr. Wardak opined that the only way to know how
the drug affects an individual is to observe their behavior. Id. at
18-33.
[Appellant] testified that he shot his brother in self-defense.
He and his brother had a volatile relationship which at times
became physical. Approximately one month prior to this incident,
the decedent stabbed him in his face requiring [Appellant] to get
stitches. Id. at 100.
On the evening in question, [Appellant] was speaking with
his father when the decedent interrupted and an argument
ensued. [Appellant] testified that the decedent got within five feet
of him and he could tell the decedent was intoxicated so he left
the room and went down to the basement. Id. The decedent
followed him downstairs and told him “I will f--- you up” but then
went back upstairs. [Appellant] wanted to go to his mother’s
house to enlist her aid in quelling the tension. When he went
upstairs to leave, the decedent pulled out a knife and popped the
switchblade. Id. at 102. [Appellant] retreated to the basement
where he grabbed his sister’s boyfriend’s gun to scare the
decedent so [Appellant] could exit the house. Id. at 103. Upon
seeing [Appellant] with the gun, the decedent said, “What the f--
- are you going to do with that?” Id. at 104. [Appellant] pulled
the slide back and a live round ejected onto the floor. Id. The
decedent then jumped toward the Defendant and he reacted by
firing the weapon. The decedent looked at his arm where he had
been shot and was still coming toward [Appellant], so [Appellant]
shot him again. [Appellant] then tried to get out of the front door
and the decedent grabbed him. A tussle ensued which spilled out
onto the front porch. [Appellant] punched the decedent in the
head two times and ran away. Id. at 107-08.
Trial Court Opinion, 6/1/17, at 1-6 (some formatting added).
In November 2016, Appellant was convicted of the aforementioned
charges. In January 2017, Appellant was sentenced to eighteen to thirty-six
years of incarceration followed by five years of probation. Appellant timely
filed a post-sentence motion, which the court denied in February 2017.
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Appellant timely appealed and filed a court-ordered Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b)
statement. The trial court issued a responsive opinion.
Appellant presents the following questions for our review:
1. Whether the adjudication of guilt for Murder in the Third
Degree and PIC is based upon insufficient evidence where the
Commonwealth failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the
Appellant possessed the requisite mental state for Third Degree
Murder and where the Appellant possessed a firearm because he
believed it to be necessary to defend himself?
2. Whether the adjudication of guilt is against the weight of the
evidence and shocking to one's sense of justice where the evidence
showed that the victim was the aggressor, where the victim was
high on PCP, where the victim had previously assaulted the
Appellant and where the testimony of the Assistant Medical
Examiner was at variance with the documentary evidence showing
the location of the victim's wounds?
Appellant’s Brief at 6 (order of issues reversed for ease of analysis).
In his first issue, Appellant claims that the evidence was insufficient to
sustain his conviction for third-degree murder and challenges his conviction
for possession of an instrument of crime as it is predicated on the murder
conviction. See Appellant’s Brief at 23-25. Specifically, Appellant contends
that the evidence fails to show he possessed the requisite malice to be
convicted of third-degree murder or, similarly, possessed an instrument of
crime with the intent to employ it criminally, as the decedent believed he was
justified in using deadly force on the decedent. Id. at 25.
We review a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence as follows.
In determining whether there was sufficient evidentiary support
for a jury’s finding [], the reviewing court inquires whether the
proofs, considered in the light most favorable to the
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Commonwealth as a verdict winner, are sufficient to enable a
reasonable jury to find every element of the crime beyond a
reasonable doubt. The court bears in mind that: the
Commonwealth may sustain its burden by means of wholly
circumstantial evidence; the entire trial record should be
evaluated and all evidence received considered, whether or not
the trial court’s rulings thereon were correct; and the trier of fact,
while passing upon the credibility of witnesses and the weight of
the evidence, is free to believe all, part, or none of the evidence.
Commonwealth v. Diggs, 949 A.2d 873, 877 (Pa. 2008) (citations omitted).
To convict a defendant of third-degree murder, as provided in Section
2502(c), the Commonwealth “need only prove that the defendant killed
another person with malice aforethought.” Commonwealth v. Santos, 876
A.2d 360, 363 (Pa. 2005). Our Supreme Court has defined malice in the
following terms:
[Malice] comprehends not only a particular ill-will, but every case
where there is wickedness of disposition, hardness of heart,
cruelty, recklessness of consequences, and a mind regardless of
social duty, although a particular person may not be intended to
be injured.
Commonwealth v. Thomas, 594 A.2d 300, 301 (Pa. 1991). “Malice may be
inferred from ‘the attending circumstances of the act resulting in the
death.’” Commonwealth v. Lee, 626 A.2d 1238, 1241 (Pa. Super. 1993)
(quoting Commonwealth v. Gardner, 416 A.2d 1007, 1008 (Pa. 1980)).
Malice may be inferred by the actor’s use of a deadly weapon upon a vital part
of the victim’s body. Commonwealth v. Ventura, 975 A.2d 1128, 1142 (Pa.
Super. 2009).
When one employs deadly force, as Appellant did here, the elements of
a claim of self-defense are that the individual (1) reasonably believed that
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force was necessary to protect himself against death or serious bodily injury;
(2) was free from fault in provoking the use of force against him; and (3) did
not violate any duty to retreat. Commonwealth v. Mouzon, 53 A.3d 738,
740 (Pa. 2012); see also 18 Pa.C.S § 505(b)(2) (pertaining to use of force in
self-protection). A defendant does not have a burden to prove a claim of self-
defense. Commonwealth v. Torres, 766 A.2d 342, 345 (Pa. 2001). Rather,
once a defendant introduces some evidence to justify a finding of self-defense,
then the issue is properly before the fact-finder and the Commonwealth bears
the burden to disprove the defense beyond a reasonable doubt. Id. Shooting
a victim in the back clearly undermines a claim of self-defense.
Commonwealth v. Yanoff, 690 A.2d 260, 265 (Pa. Super. 1997) (evidence
was sufficient to find appellant guilty of third-degree murder where victim
initiated scuffle with appellant and appellant shot victim four times in the back
as victim ran away).
Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth
as verdict winner, the Commonwealth disproved Appellant's claim of self-
defense beyond a reasonable doubt and proved that Appellant acted with
malice in the killing of the decedent. Specifically, the Commonwealth
presented undisputed forensic evidence that the decedent was shot two times,
one of which entered the decedent’s abdomen from his back. The testimony
of both Appellant and Ms. Clark established that Appellant first shot the
decedent in the arm. It was thus reasonable for the jury to infer that the shot
to the decedent’s back occurred after the non-fatal shot and further
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undermined his claim of self-defense. See Yanoff, 690 A.2d at 265. In
addition, Ms. Clark testified that, following the shots, Appellant proceeded to
pistol whip the decedent. While Appellant attempted to establish that the
decedent, who had stabbed Appellant a month prior, charged him with a
switchblade, the Commonwealth presented more than sufficient evidence to
show that Appellant did not act in self-defense in shooting the decedent in the
back and continuing to hit him after Appellant shot him.
Additionally, “[a] person commits a misdemeanor of the first degree if
he possesses any instrument of crime with intent to employ it criminally.” 18
Pa.C.S. § 907(a). In Commonwealth v. Weston, 749 A.2d 458, 461 (Pa.
2000), our Supreme Court held that where a defendant asserted self-defense
but was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, the voluntary manslaughter
conviction did not negate the criminal intent necessary to sustain his
conviction for possession of an instrument of crime. Weston, 749 A.2d at
461 (Pa. 2000). Moreover, a conviction by the jury of possession of an
instrument of crime “may be sustained when a defendant has been otherwise
acquitted of related offenses involving the use of that instrument of crime.”
See Commonwealth v. Moore, 103 A.3d 1240, 1245-50 (Pa. 2014) (relying
on the “long-standing principles that juries may issue inconsistent verdicts
and that reviewing courts may not draw factual inferences in relation to the
evidence from a jury's decision to acquit a defendant of a certain offense”).
Appellant’s conviction for possession of an instrument of crime was not,
in fact, dependent on his conviction for third-degree murder. See Moore,
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103 A.3d at 1250. In the instant matter, Appellant used a gun to kill the
decedent, shooting him twice, once in the back. Coupled with Ms. Clark’s
testimony that Appellant also pistol-whipped Appellant, the jury could
conclude that Appellant possessed the gun with the intent to employ it
criminally.
In his second claim, Appellant argues that his conviction for third-degree
murder is against the weight of the evidence and so contrary to the evidence
that it shocks one’s sense of justice. See Appellant’s Brief at 18-23. Appellant
contends that (1) the evidence established that the decedent was the
aggressor in the instant matter and (2) a discrepancy between the location of
the bullet in a diagram exhibit and the Assistant Medical Examiner’s testimony
called into question the accuracy of the entrance location of the fatal bullet.
Appellant’s Brief at 19, 22.
The law regarding weight of the evidence claims is well-settled.
A claim alleging the verdict was against the weight of the evidence
is addressed to the discretion of the trial court. Accordingly, an
appellate court reviews the exercise of the trial court's discretion;
it does not answer for itself whether the verdict was against the
weight of the evidence. It is well settled that the jury is free to
believe all, part, or none of the evidence and to determine the
credibility of the witnesses, and a new trial based on a weight of
the evidence claim is only warranted where the jury’s verdict is so
contrary to the evidence that it shocks one’s sense of justice. In
determining whether this standard has been met, appellate review
is limited to whether the trial judge’s discretion was properly
exercised, and relief will only be granted where the facts and
inferences of record disclose a palpable abuse of discretion.
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Commonwealth v. Houser, 18 A.3d 1128, 1135-36 (Pa. 2011) (citations
and internal quotation marks omitted). A trial court's denial of a post-
sentence motion based on a weight of the evidence claim is the least assailable
of its rulings. Commonwealth v. Nypaver, 69 A.3d 708, 717 (Pa. Super.
2013) (internal quotations omitted) (citing Commonwealth v. Sanders, 42
A.3d 325, 331 (Pa. Super. 2012). Additionally, “[a] weight of the evidence
claim concedes that the evidence is sufficient to sustain the verdict[.]”
Commonwealth v. Lyons, 79 A.3d 1053, 1067 (Pa. 2013) (citations
omitted), cert. denied, 134 S.Ct. 1792 (U.S. 2014).
As previously discussed, the Commonwealth “need only prove that the
defendant killed another person with malice aforethought” to convict Appellant
of third-degree murder. Santos, 876 A.2d at 363. Also, malice may be
inferred by the use of a deadly weapon upon a vital part of the victim’s body.
Ventura, 975 A.2d at 1142.
Here, Appellant asserts that the decedent’s prior conduct in stabbing
Appellant in the face, his initiative to enter the argument between Appellant
and John, and the presence of PCP in his blood lead to the conclusion that the
decedent was the initial aggressor in the incident and the instant verdict
shocked the conscious. Appellant’s Brief at 19. The fact finder was free to
believe that the decedent was the initial aggressor in the incident. However,
the jury was also free to balance that notion with the testimony of Dr. Wardak,
who explained that the concentration of PCP in an individual's blood is
inconclusive of the effect on the user’s behavior. While there was clearly
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evidence of aggression by the decedent, the jury was free to believe forensic
evidence and testimony establishing that (1) Appellant shot the decedent
twice, first in the arm and a second time in the back and (2) that Appellant
continued to assault the decedent after the decedent incurred two gunshot
wounds.
Appellant also asserts the jury ignored a serious discrepancy between
the location of the bullet in the decedent’s body diagram and the Assistant
Medical Examiner’s testimony. Compare Death Certificate Information,
Commonwealth’s Exhibit 35, at 4, with Body Diagram, Commonwealth’s
Exhibit 36. First, it is the role of the fact-finder to resolve discrepancies in the
evidence. Commonwealth v. Hilliard, 172 A.3d 5, 14 (Pa. Super. 2017)
(“Any conflicts or discrepancies in the evidence, which are questions regarding
the weight and credibility of evidence, must be resolved by the fact-finder at
trial.”) Second, Appellant was free to impeach Dr. Wardak’s credibility but
failed to do so. N.T., 11/3/16, at 23-34. Indeed, the location of the bullet in
decedent’s chest was not even broached during the cross-examination of Dr.
Wardark. Id. Further, balanced against this alleged discrepancy was the
significant and uncontradicted evidence that the bullet entered the decedent
in his back. Id. at 11, 13-15.
Based on the above, we cannot conclude that the verdict was so against
the weight of the evidence as to shock one’s sense of justice, and accordingly,
the court did not abuse its discretion. Houser, 18 A.3d at 1136.
Judgment affirmed. Jurisdiction relinquished.
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Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 3/27/18
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