Com. v. Thornton, V. ( 2015 )

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NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
PENNSYLVANIA
Appellant
v.
VINCENT THORNTON,
Appellee No. 371 EDA 2014
Appeal from the Order December 19, 2013
in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County
Criminal Division at No.: CP-51-CR-0015216-2012
BEFORE: LAZARUS, J., OLSON, J., and PLATT, J.*
MEMORANDUM BY PLATT, J.: FILED JUNE 24, 2015
The Commonwealth appeals from the trial court order that granted
Appellee, Vincent Thornton’s, motion for arrest of judgment; vacated his
bench conviction of insurance fraud;1 and entered a verdict of not guilty.
We vacate the order and remand for proceedings consistent with this
decision.
We take the following facts from the trial court’s opinion and our
independent review of the record. Appellee purchased a counterfeit
American Independent Insurance Company (AIIC) auto insurance card from
a body shop in South Philadelphia that indicated he had insurance until
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*
Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
1
18 Pa.C.S.A. § 4117(a)(1).
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March 27, 2012. Appellee presented the counterfeit card to Ivanette Marrow
at 11th Street Auto Sales, who relied on it to register and transfer title on his
vehicle.
In early 2012, police impounded Appellee’s car, and on March 23,
2012, Appellee attempted to retrieve it from the police impound lot. He
presented the counterfeit AIIC insurance card and other documentation to
the assigned officer, Sergeant John Dietz. Consistent with usual practice,
Sergeant Dietz contacted the insurance company to verify the policy. AIIC
informed Sergeant Dietz that the policy was invalid, he noted in the police
paperwork that Appellee had provided false documentation, and he told him
to return with a valid insurance card.
Three days later, on March 26, Appellee purchased a valid insurance
policy with AIIC and coverage commenced immediately. Using the newly
issued card, Appellee retrieved his car from the impound lot. His insurance
coverage lapsed thirty days later when Appellee failed to make any
payments.
Detective Robert Stansfield of the Insurance Fraud Unit of the
Philadelphia Police Department reviewed the police file, insurance company
records, and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation documents. Based
on his review, he obtained a warrant for Appellee’s arrest. On December 31,
2012, the Commonwealth filed an information against Appellee for insurance
fraud and forgery.
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On September 9, 2013, Appellee’s one-day bench trial commenced.
The Commonwealth presented the testimony of Sergeant Dietz, Detective
Stansfield, Ms. Marrow, Ms. Marrow’s supervisor, Germaine Lewis, and
insurance underwriter Dorraina McQueen. Appellee testified on his own
behalf and stated he was unaware that he had purchased a counterfeit
insurance card. The trial court convicted Appellee of insurance fraud, found
him not guilty of forgery, and scheduled sentencing for November 6, 2013.
On November 6, 2013, Appellee filed a memorandum in support of his oral
motion for extraordinary relief in the form of arrest of judgment, arguing
that the verdict should be overturned because it was against the weight of
the evidence, and that the evidence was insufficient. Sentencing was
continued at Appellee’s request until December 19, 2013. On December 19,
2013, the court held a hearing on Appellee’s motion before imposing
sentence. At the hearing, Appellee’s counsel presented new evidence
regarding Appellee’s “mental capacity.” (N.T. Hearing, 12/19/13, at 16; see
id. at 10-11). Based on this new evidence, the court found:
All right. I do take the opportunity to review my notes
that I took during the trial. And I have been presented with the
evidence by the defense attorney today with regard to
[Appellee’s] mental capacity . . . . And I think that maybe he
didn’t have the criminal intent or the capacity to have committed
the crime that I found him guilty of . . . . And . . . he also had
character evidence at trial.
So based on all that, I am going to grant [Appellee’s]
motion for extraordinary relief . . . and the guilty verdict is going
to be vacated.
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(Id. at 16).2
The Commonwealth timely appealed on Tuesday, January 21, 2014,3
and filed a Rule 1925(b) statement on March 3, 2014, before ordered to do
so by the trial court. See Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b). On May 8, 2014, the trial
court issued an order directing the Commonwealth to file a Rule 1925(b)
statement. The Commonwealth again filed the statement on May 15, 2014,
pursuant to the court’s order. The court filed a Rule 1925(a) opinion on
January 20, 2015. See Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a).
The Commonwealth raises one issue for this Court’s review:
Did the [trial] court err in arresting judgment on
[Appellee’s] conviction for insurance fraud under 18 Pa.C.S. §
4117(a)(1) where the evidence was sufficient to establish that
he knowingly presented a counterfeit insurance card at a police
impound lot in an attempt to retrieve his car, and presented the
same counterfeit card to obtain registration for his car?
(Commonwealth’s Brief, at 1).
The Commonwealth contends that “[a]fter reweighing the evidence,
the trial court granted [Appellee’s] motion to arrest judgment. Because the
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2
On December 20, 2013, Appellee filed a motion for reconsideration of the
motion for extraordinary relief in which he acknowledged that the trial court
“may [have been] without power to reweigh evidence and issue a verdict of
not guilty[.]” (See Motion for Reconsideration, 12/20/13, at unnumbered
page 1 ¶ 5). Appellee requested that the court vacate the December 19,
2013 order and grant him a new trial. (See id. at unnumbered page 2).
The motion was denied by operation of law.
3
The deadline for filing the appeal was on a Saturday and the following
Monday was a federal holiday. See 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 1908.
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evidence was sufficient to sustain his convictions, the arrest of judgment
was contrary to the law and therefore must be vacated.” (Id. at 7). We are
constrained to agree.
It is well-settled that:
For purposes of appellate review,
In passing upon such a motion [in arrest of
judgment], the sufficiency of the evidence must be
evaluated upon the entire trial record. All of the
evidence must be read in the light most favorable to
the Commonwealth and it is entitled to all reasonable
inferences arising therefrom. The effect of such a
motion is to admit all the facts which the
Commonwealth’s evidence tends to prove.
Commonwealth v. Robinson, 33 A.3d 89, 94 (Pa. Super. 2011), appeal
denied, 42 A.3d 292 (Pa. 2012) (citation omitted). Further, “when
considering a motion for an arrest of judgment, the trial judge cannot alter
the verdict based upon a redetermination of credibility or a re-evaluation of
the evidence.” Id. (citation omitted). Indeed, “at the post-verdict stage of
the proceedings, the trial court is limited to rectifying trial errors, and cannot
make a redetermination of credibility and weight of the evidence.” Id.(citation and internal quotation marks omitted).
Thus, a post-verdict court may not reweigh the evidence
and change its mind . . . . Although a post-verdict judge may
question a verdict, his discretionary powers are limited to a
determination of whether the evidence was sufficient to uphold
the original verdict, and he may not alter the original verdict and
substitute a new one. The trial court’s verdict must be accorded
the same legal effect as a jury verdict. Post-trial, the court
cannot re-deliberate as it is no longer the fact finder.
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Id. (citations omitted).
Here, at the hearing on Appellee’s motion, the trial court found that
“after careful review of the record, post-trial, the evidence of [the insurance
fraud] charge was insufficient and inconclusive that [A]ppellee had acted
knowingly and with the intent to defraud.” (Trial Court Opinion, 1/20/15, at
unnumbered pages 4-5; see also N.T. Hearing, 12/19/13, at 16). We
disagree.
Although a conviction of insurance fraud4 requires an intent to defraud,
we are reminded that “[r]are is the occasion when a party lays bare his or
her subjective intent[.]” Commonwealth v. Parker, 104 A.3d 17, 24 (Pa.
Super. 2014) (citation omitted).
An intent is a subjective frame of mind, it is of necessity
difficult of direct proof[.] We must look to all the evidence to
establish intent, including, but not limited to, [Appellee’s]
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4
Section 4117, insurance fraud, provides, in pertinent part, that:
(a) Offense defined.─A person commits an offense if the
person does any of the following:
(1) Knowingly and with the intent to defraud a State or
local government agency files, presents or causes to be filed
with or presented to the government agency a document that
contains false, incomplete or misleading information concerning
any fact or thing material to the agency’s determination in
approving or disapproving a motor vehicle insurance rate filing, a
motor vehicle insurance transaction or other motor vehicle
insurance action which is required or filed in response to an
agency’s request.
18 Pa.C.S.A. § 4117(a)(1).
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conduct as it appeared to his eyes [.] Intent can be proven by
direct or circumstantial evidence; it may be inferred from acts or
conduct or from the attendant circumstances.
Commonwealth v. Lewis, 911 A.2d 558, 564 (Pa. Super. 2006) (citation
omitted).
In this case, Appellee obtained a counterfeit insurance card in South
Philadelphia and presented it to an auto tags agency in order to register and
transfer title on his car. (See N.T. Trial, 9/09/13, at 23-28, 55-58, 61).
After police impounded his vehicle months later, Appellee attempted to
retrieve it by presenting Sergeant Dietz with the counterfeit card. (See id.
at 12-13). When Sergeant Dietz contacted the insurance company, he was
told that Appellee’s insurance card was not valid. (See id. at 12-13, 56).
Sergeant Dietz noted in the paperwork that Appellee provided false
documentation, and told him to return with evidence of valid insurance.
(See id. at 14-15). Three days later, Appellee purchased a valid policy and
retrieved his car from the impound lot. (See id. at 16-17, 56). However,
Appellee did not pay his insurance premium, and the policy was cancelled
thirty days later. (See id. at 56, 58).
We conclude that, viewing the above evidence in the light most
favorable to the Commonwealth, “it may be inferred from [Appellee’s] acts
or conduct or from the attendant circumstances” that he intended to commit
insurance fraud. Lewis, supra at 564; see also 18 Pa.C.S.A. §
4117(a)(1); Parker, supra at 24. Further, the trial court abused its
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discretion when it “alter[ed] the verdict based upon a redetermination of
credibility or a re-evaluation of the evidence” and granted Appellee’s motion
for arrest of judgment.5 Robinson, supra at 94. Accordingly, we are
constrained to vacate the trial court’s order granting Appellee’s motion and
entering a verdict of not guilty. We remand for the re-entry of Appellant’s
guilty verdict and for sentencing.
Order vacated. Case remanded. Jurisdiction relinquished.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 6/24/2015
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5
We also conclude that the court erred in considering evidence outside the
trial record in making its decision. (See N.T. Hearing, 12/19/13, at 16)
(considering new evidence of Appellee’s mental capacity and ability to
perform mathematical calculations “or whatever”). It is well-settled that,
when deciding a motion for arrest of judgment, “the evidence must be
evaluated upon the entire trial record.” Robinson, supra at 94 (citation
omitted; emphasis added); see also Commonwealth v. Meadows, 369
A.2d 1266, 1268 (Pa. 1977) (same); Commonwealth v. Melechio, 658
A.2d 1385, 1387 (Pa. Super. 1995) (same).
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