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Commonwealth v. Gillen4/30/2002
1 This is an appeal from the judgment of sentence entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Clearfield County following Appellant's conviction on the charges of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault under 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2702(a)(1), simple assault, recklessly endangering another person, and driving under the influence . Appellant contends: (1) The suppression court erred in failing to suppress the statements he made to the police, (2) The jury's verdict was inconsistent; and (3) The trial court erred in failing to grant Appellant's motion for a mistrial, which was requested after testimony by a Commonwealth witness. We affirm.
2 Appellant first challenges the suppression court's denial of his motion to suppress. Our standard of review in this case is well settled.
In reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, our responsibility is to determine whether the record supports the suppression court's factual findings and the legitimacy of the inferences and legal conclusions drawn from those findings. If the suppression court held for the prosecution, we consider only the evidence of the prosecution's witnesses and so much of the evidence of the defense as, fairly read in the context of the record as a whole, remains uncontradicted. When the factual findings of the suppression court are supported by the evidence, the appellate court may reverse if there is an error in the legal conclusions drawn from those factual findings. Commonwealth v. Lopez, 609 A.2d 177, 178-179 (Pa.Super. 1992).
3 Keeping the aforementioned standard of review in mind, the relevant facts and procedural history are as follows: On July 16, 1999, at approximately 6:30 p.m., Appellant and the victim were in the vicinity of a pickup truck parked on the left side of Six Mile Road. Several witnesses saw the two men engaged in an argument, and one of the witnesses observed the men in a "bear hug." At approximately 7:00 p.m., Chief Nick Richtscheit of the Houtzdale Borough Police Department received a call that a man was lying on the roadway on Six Mile Road and another man was sitting in the vehicle revving the engine in the truck. Chief Richtscheit arrived on the scene and saw Appellant seated behind the wheel of the pickup truck and the victim lying on the ground in a semi-fetal position about seven feet from the left-front tire of the truck. The Chief noticed skid marks in the dirt and a large donut on the roadway where a vehicle appeared to have accelerated rapidly in a semi-circle and come to rest. He also saw a small pile of dirt in front of the rear tires, indicating rapid acceleration in reverse. The drive transmission and the drive train of the truck were lying under the truck.
4 Chief Richtscheit approached the vehicle and asked Appellant what had happened to the man on the ground. Appellant's response was "F * him, that's what he gets." N.T. 7/12/2000 at 100. The truck was not running but the keys were in the ignition. The officer again asked Appellant what happened. Appellant's response was to laugh and say, "He's just laying there, resting." N.T. 7/12/2000 at 101. Chief Richtscheit asked Appellant to get out of the vehicle. Eventually, Appellant complied with the request and, when he did, the officer noticed that Appellant was under the influence of alcohol. Appellant was arrested at the scene for driving while under the influence and taken to the county jail until he was sober enough to understand arraignment. Appellant's blood alcohol content was .207%. The victim died as a result of blunt force trauma and his injuries were consistent with being struck by an automobile that was traveling between 25 and 35 miles per hour.
5 The following day Appellant co
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