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Hall v. Commonwealth3/10/1992
OPINION BY JUDGE JERE M.H. WILLIS, JR.
Convicted in a jury trial of second degree murder of his wife, the appellant, Robert James Hall, Jr., contends that the trial court erred (1) in admitting evidence of the attempt by another man to murder that man's wife, (2) in denying his motions to strike the Commonwealth's evidence and to set aside the verdict on the ground that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction, and (3) in refusing to investigate an allegation of juror misconduct. We find that the trial court erred in receiving evidence of an unrelated crime committed by a third party, and we reverse the appellant's conviction on that ground. We find no merit in the other assignments of error.
About 10:00 p.m. on September 30, 1987, Mr. and Mrs. John Tolbert discovered the appellant's wife, Kay Hall, lying partially
under her pickup truck near the end of Bluff Point Road in Northumberland County. She died shortly thereafter of injuries caused by the truck's having run over and crushed her chest. When the Tolberts came on the scene, the truck's engine was running, its lights were burning and the gear shift was in "park." The front wheels were turned to the right, and extending in front of them were skidmarks which were determined to have been caused by application of the brakes while the vehicle was traveling backwards. Mrs. Hall was lying on her back with her body outside the left front wheel, her legs extending under the front of the vehicle. The left front wheel was wedged between her torso and her right arm, partially on her chest. Marks on her abdomen and bilateral crushing of her chest showed that the left rear wheel had run over her. Her postmortem examination revealed a blood alcohol content of .27 and a vitreous alcohol content of .31%, indicating that she was highly intoxicated but was regaining sobriety.
Earlier in the evening, the Halls had attended a party at Indian Creek Country Club on Bluff Point Road "a couple of miles" from where Mrs. Hall was discovered. They lived on Merry Point in Lancaster County, in the other direction from the Club, a distance requiring twenty-four to twenty-five minutes driving time.
The Halls had traveled together in the pickup truck from their home to the party, arriving at about 7:00 p.m. Both drank heavily. Mrs. Hall was seen leaving the party between 8:00 and 8:15 p.m. Mr. Hall later went to the parking lot to look for his wife and discovered that she and the truck were gone. Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Swannell gave him a ride, arriving at his home between 8:45 and 9:05 p.m. At 9:47 p.m., Hall made a long distance telephone call from his home to his daughter's home in Waldorf, Maryland.
I.
EVIDENCE OF AN UNRELATED CRIME COMMITTED BY A THIRD PARTY
Hall's first assignment of error addresses the testimony of Carole Vandergrift. Ms. Vandergrift testified that she and her former husband, William Douglas Carter, had been close friends of the Halls. She testified that on July 31, 1987, while she and Carter were living in Northern Virginia, he shot her in the head. He then drove more rapidly than normal to Saratoga Springs, New York, a trip which normally took eleven hours, and immediately
upon arrival made telephone calls to establish an alibi. She testified that Carter had nonetheless been convicted of attempted murder and was imprisoned.
Hall contends that the evidence of Carter's attempt to murder Ms. Vandergrift was irrelevant to any issue on trial and served only to inflame the jury. He argues
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