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HomeMy WebLinkAbout94-2078 Criminal COMMONWEALTH : IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF : CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA SEIFULLAH ABDUL-SALAAM : NO. 94-2078 CRIMINAL TERM IN RE: DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR CHANGE OF VENIRE BEFORE OLER, J. ORDER OF COURT AND NOW, this ~5~ day of April, 1995, upon consideration of Defendant's Motion for Change of Venire, following a hearing and for the reasons stated in the accompanying Opinion, the motion is GRANTED. Trial of the above matter shall commence at the call of the District Attorney, in such county as shall be designated by the Supreme Court for jury selection· BY THE COURT, J~Wesley Ole ,~Jr.,-~J~ Michael Schwoyer, Esq. Assistant District Attorney Spero T. Lappas, Esq. Ann Economou, Esq. 205 State Street P.O. Box 808 Harrisburg, PA 17108-0808 Attorneys for Defendant :re COMMONWEALTH : IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF : CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA : V. : SEIFULLAH ABDUL-SALAAM : NO. 94-2078 CRIMINAL TERM IN RE: DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR CHANGE OF VENIRE BEFORE OLER, J. OPINION and ORDER OF COURT Oler, J. In this case Defendant is charged with aggravated assault as a result of an incident allegedly occurring on November 15, 1995. For disposition at this time is Defendant's Motion for Change of Venire. A hearing was held on the motion on Thursday, April 20, 1995. For the reasons stated in this Opinion, Defendant's motion will be granted. STATEMENT OF FACTS On Friday, August 19, 1994, Police Officer Willis Cole of the Borough of New Cumberland in Cumberland County was shot to death by a robber after the officer had apprehended an accomplice. Cumberland County is a Pennsylvania county of the fourth class, having a population of around 200,000. No police officer had been murdered in Cumberland County in this century. Defendant was arrested within a few hours of the crime and charged with criminal homicide, inter alia. Media coverage of the case in the county was extensive, and included references to a preexisting criminal record of Defendant. A change of venire was granted by the Honorable Kevin A. Hess on December 19, 1994. NO. 94-2078 CRIMINAL TERM Following a jury trial in Cumberland County in March of 1995, Defendant was found guilty of first degree murder, robbery and conspiracy. The jury also returned a verdict of death as the penalty for the murder. On March 24, 1995, Defendant was sentenced by the trial judge to death. As of that date, it is doubtful whether many adult residents in Cumberland County were unaware of these events. Trial of the Defendant on the present unrelated aggravated assault charge is scheduled for the trial term beginning on Monday, May 22, 1995. He seeks, as noted above, a change of venire. DISCUSSION The obligation of a trial court in assessing the merits of a motion for a change of venue or venire has been described by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in pertinent part, as follows: [T]he proper examination to be made by the trial court faced with a request for a change of venue charging that pretrial publicity will deny the accused's right to be tried by an impartial jury, is to first look at the nature of the content of the publicity. Does it contain references to the accused's prior record or criminal convictions, if any? ... If the court answers [this question] in the affirmative, its analysis must proceed to a determination of the likelihood that a significant number of the prospective jurors in the county were, in fact, exposed to such publicity. [I]f the record shows that there is a likelihood that a significant portion of the population was exposed to publicity of that nature, refusal to grant a change of venue would be an abuse of discretion unless the record also indicates that a sufficiently long period of time has passed between the time of 2 NO. 94-2078 CRIMINAL TERM the publicity and the time of the application for a change of venue for the court to conclude that any prejudice which may have been initially created by the publicity has been dissipated. Commonwealth v. Frazier, 471 Pa. 121, 131-32, 369 A.2d 1224, 1229- 30 (1977); see Commonwealth v. Howard, 358 Pa. Super. 259, 267-68, 517 A.2d 192, 196 (1986), appeal denied, 515 Pa. 575, 527 A.2d 536 (1987). The prejudicial effect of a juror's knowledge of a defendant's unrelated criminal record has been noted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the following terms: [E]vidence of prior criminal activity on the part of the accused is so highly prejudicial in its effect upon the jury as to be equalled only by an actual confession in its impact upon the deliberative process. Commonwealth v. Bryant, 515 Pa. 473, 476, 530 A.2d 83, 85 (1987). In the present case, the pretrial publicity contains references to the accused's criminal conviction for the recent, and virtually unprecedented, murder of a police officer in Cumberland County, inter alia. It is certain that a significant number of the prospective jurors in the county have been exposed to the publicity. It is not likely that the events culminating in Defendant's death sentence last month have faded in the public consciousness. For these reasons, the following Order will be entered: NO. 94-2078 CRIMINAL TERM ORDER OF COURT AND NOW, this ~[~ day of April, 1995, upon consideration of Defendant's Motion for Change of Venire, following a hearing and for the reasons stated in the accompanying Opinion, the motion is GRANTED. Trial of the above matter shall commence at the call of the District Attorney, in such county as shall be designated by the Supreme Court for jury selection. BY THE COURT, s/ J. Wesley Oler, Jr. J. Wesley Oler, Jr., J. Michael Schwoyer, Esq. Assistant District Attorney Spero T. Lappas, Esq. Ann Economou, Esq. 205 State Street P.O. Box 808 Harrisburg, PA 17108-0808 Attorneys for Defendant