Commonwealth v. Farmer ( 1976 )

VAN der VOORT, Judge:

On November 7, 1974, Miss Vanselle Hopson was standing on a street corner in Philadelphia with an uncle and a brother, waiting for a bus, when two men approached her unobserved. One of the men, appellant Thomas Farmer, grabbed Miss Hopson’s pocketbook and punched her in the face, and the two men then dashed across the street in front of a passing car. Miss Hop-son’s brother chased and caught one of the thieves, and the other, appellant, was soon apprehended by the police. Appellant was tried on March 24, 1975 before a judge sitting without a jury, was found guilty of simple assault, robbery, and criminal conspiracy, and was sentenced to a term of six months to one year imprisonment on the robbery conviction. The only issue before our Court is whether sufficient evidence was presented to convict appellant of robbery.

§ 370. ¹ of the new Crimes Code defines robbery as follows:

(1) A person is guilty of robbery if, in the course of committing a theft, he:

(i) inflicts serious bodily injury upon another;

(ii) threatens another with or intentionally puts him in fear of immediate serious bodily injury; or

(iii) commits or threatens immediately to commit any felony of the first or second degree.

(2) An act shall be deemed “in the course of committing a theft” if it occurs in an attempt to commit theft or in flight after the attempt or commission.

Appellant grabbed Miss Hopson’s pocketbook and punched her in the face. An accomplice was present who could very easily, if necessary, have joined appellant in applying force to separate the victim from her handbag. Although the woman did not testify specifically that appellant had verbally threatened her, the trial judge reasonably concluded that, under the circumstances, the victim had been threatened by appellant’s actions and had been placed in fear of immediate serious bodily injury. In addition, the lower court justifiably concluded that appellant possessed the intent to place his victim in fear of such injury, since intent can, and in most cases necessarily must, be inferred from the circumstances, Commonwealth v. White, 229 Pa.Super. 280, 323 A.2d 757 (1974), and since a punch to the face can easily cause serious injury or even death. Sound public policy dictates our construction of 18 Pa.C.S. § 3701 to include within the scope of “robbery” a situation such as was created in this case, in which two men undertake to forcibly steal an object from the person of an intended victim, and in the process punch that person in the face.

Judgment affirmed.

SPAETH, J., files a dissenting opinion, in which CER-CONE, J., joins.

1 . Act of Dec. 6, 1972, P.L. 1482, No. 334, § 1, eff. June 6, 1973, 18 Pa.C.S. § 3701(a).