J-S47027-16
NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
PENNSYLVANIA
Appellee
v.
MICHAEL JOHN KILLIANY
Appellant No. 1578 MDA 2015
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence May 11, 2015
In the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County
Criminal Division at No(s): CP-35-CR-0001492-2013
BEFORE: SHOGAN, J., LAZARUS, J., and JENKINS, J.
MEMORANDUM BY JENKINS, J.: FILED JULY 21, 2016
Appellant Michael John Killiany appeals from the judgment of sentence
entered in the Lackawanna County Court of Common Pleas, following his
jury trial convictions for arson (endangering persons), arson (inhabited
building or structure), insurance fraud, and recklessly endangering another
person (“REAP”).1 We affirm.
The relevant facts and procedural history of this appeal are as follows.
On February 25, 2013, Nicole Everetts purchased property at 59 Belmont
Street in Carbondale, Pennsylvania (“the property”) at a Lackawanna County
tax sale for $3,200.00. N.T., 2/12/15, at 206, 212. Before the judicial tax
sale, Appellant owned the property for several years. Id. at 231. He was
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1
18 Pa.C.S. §§ 3301(a)(1)(i), 3301(a)(1)(ii), 4117(a)(2), and 2705,
respectively.
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aware of the judicial tax sale but remained living in the home on the
property. N.T., 2/13/15, at 116.
On May 4, 2013, Ms. Everetts received a letter apprising her of several
code violations for which she was responsible as the new owner of the
property. N.T., 2/12/15, at 223. She went to the property with her
husband and began to clean up the yard. Id. at 228. Appellant’s adult
daughter, Jessica Killiany, arrived at the property and was very angry to see
the Everetts there. Id. at 230. When she realized the Everetts had
purchased the property at a judicial tax sale and were cleaning to correct
code violations, Jessica began to help clean. Id. When Appellant arrived at
the property, he was very angry, yelled at the Everetts, and told them that
they stole his house from him. Id. at 231. Jessica allowed the Everetts to
walk through the interior of the home on the property. Id. at 232.
Later that day, Ms. Everetts sent Appellant a letter advising him that
he had until May 11, 2013 to remove animal feces, trash, and debris from
the interior of the home. Id. at 248. The letter stated that if he complied
with Ms. Everetts request, he would be allowed to rent the property for
$600.00 per month, but if he did not comply with the request, he would be
evicted and would be required to remove all of his personal belongings from
the property by May 17, 2013. Id. Jessica secured new housing for herself
and her father and apprised Appellant of this. N.T., 2/13/15, at 79.
Appellant told his neighbor, Mark Galaydick, that he wanted his house
to be uninhabitable before the new neighbors acquired it. N.T., 2/12/15, at
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153. He talked about shorting out the electric by putting a penny in the fuse
box or infesting his home with cockroaches. Id. He told his neighbor that it
would be “something to see 50 foot flames shooting up” from the house, and
that if he could not have the house, nobody would. Id. at 153-54.
Appellant also mentioned, to no one in particular, at a nearby Turkey Hill
convenience store that he would “torch” his home before allowing “them” to
take it. Id. at at 136.
On May 9, 2013, around 2:30 a.m., firefighter Thomas Francis
Brennan received a call that the house on the property was on fire. N.T.,
2/11/15, at 45, 52. Twenty-one firefighters reported to the scene. Id. at
64. Appellant told State Trooper Steven Kaneski that, when the fire began,
he was sitting at his computer on the first floor of the home when he heard
his dog bark at the basement door. N.T. 2/12/15, at 92. Upon opening the
door to the basement, which he had not entered in weeks, he heard a loud
bang and smelled smoke. Id. Appellant’s neighbor, Mr. Galaydick, was
alerted of the fire by a neighbor who lived below him. Id. at 159.
Firefighters told Mr. Galaydick and his family to leave their home because
ammunition in the basement of the property was exploding as a result of the
fire. Id. at 161. Mr. Galaydick saw Appellant sitting in a Red Cross Tent
across the street with his dogs. Id. at 164. Appellant, who was fully
dressed, cocked his head and said in a tone Mr. Galaydick perceived to be
cocky, “What a ‘F’ ing coincidence.” Id. at 169. Later that morning,
Appellant stated in the Turkey Hill that he was glad “the bitch burnt.” Id. at
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140. The next day, Appellant filed a claim with Allstate Insurance Company,
where he had the house insured for $138,000.00, plus $70,000.00 for
personal property. Id. at 196-199.
On February 13, 2015, a jury convicted Appellant of two counts of
arson (endangering persons) and one count each of arson (inhabited
building or structure), insurance fraud, and REAP. On May 11, 2015, the
court sentenced Appellant to consecutive terms of 12-36 months’
incarceration for each of his three arson convictions. The court imposed a
sentence of 1-2 months’ incarceration for insurance fraud, and 1-2 months’
incarceration for REAP, to be served concurrently with the other period of
incarceration. On May 21, 2015, Appellant filed a post-sentence motion. On
August 26, 2015, the court granted Appellant’s post-sentence motion in
part, finding that Appellant’s conviction for arson (inhabited building or
structure) merged with his convictions for arson (endangering persons) for
sentencing purposes. The court re-sentenced Appellant to an aggregate
sentence of 2-6 years’ incarceration.
On September 14, 2015, Appellant filed a notice of appeal. On
September 16, 2015, the trial court ordered Appellant to file a concise
statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b),
and he timely complied on October 7, 2015. On October 14, 2015, the trial
court issued a Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion, in which it incorporated its orders
of August 26, 2015 and February 10, 2015.
Appellant raises the following issues for our review:
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1. WAS THE VERDICT ON ALL CHARGES CONTRARY TO
THE WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED TO SUPPORT
A FINDING OF GUILT BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT
RELATIVE TO PROOF OF THE ELEMENTS OF EACH
CHARGE, COUNTS 1-3 & 5-6, IN PARTICULAR THAT
APPELLANT CAUSED OR STARTED THE FIRE?
2. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR AND/OR ABUSE ITS
DISCRETION IN FAILING TO ORDER DISCLOSURE OR
GRANT LEAVE TO INSPECT THE REPORTS OF THE
PENNSYLVANIA STATE POLICE AND/OR CARBONDALE
POLICE DEPARTMENT CONCERNING AN INVESTIGATION
INTO AN ARSON AT 37 BELMONT STREET, CARBONDALE,
PA PURSUANT TO PENNSYLVANIA RULE OF CRIMINAL
PROCEDURE 573 AND THEN EXCLUDING THIS EVIDENCE
FROM USE AT TRIAL WHERE IT BORE HIGHLY
DISTINCTIVE SIMILARITIES TO THE OFFENSES FOR
WHICH APPELLANT STOOD TRIAL, THEREBY DEPRIVING
APPELLANT OF AN ADEQUATE DEFENSE AND A FAIR
TRIAL?
3. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR OR ABUSE ITS DISCRETION
IN ALLOWING TROOPER CASTALDI TO TESTIFY, ON
REBUTTAL, OVER THE OBJECTION OF COUNSEL, TO AN
ORAL STATEMENT OF APPELLANT WHERE THE SAME
NEITHER CONSTITUTED REBUTTAL NOR WAS IT
DEMONSTRATIVE OF AN INCONSISTENT STATEMENT IN
VIOLATION OF PA.R.E. 613?
Appellant’s Brief at 3.
In his first issue, Appellant claims the verdict was against the weight of
the evidence, because the only evidence presented against him was
circumstantial and the only testimony of his admission was not disclosed
until two years after the fire. We disagree.
We review challenges to the weight of the evidence as follows:
The weight of the evidence is exclusively for the finder
of fact who is free to believe all, part, or none of the
evidence and to determine the credibility of the
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witnesses. An appellate court cannot substitute its
judgment for that of the finder of fact. Thus, we may
only reverse the…verdict if it is so contrary to the
evidence as to shock one’s sense of justice.
Commonwealth v. Small, 741 A.2d 666, 672–73
(Pa.1999) [cert. denied, 121 S.Ct. 80, 148 L.Ed.2d 42
(U.S.2000)]. Moreover, where the trial court has ruled on
the weight claim below, an appellate court’s role is not to
consider the underlying question of whether the verdict is
against the weight of the evidence. Rather, appellate
review is limited to whether the trial court palpably abused
its discretion in ruling on the weight claim.
Commonwealth v. Devine, 26 A.3d 1139, 1146 (Pa.Super. 2011), appeal
denied, 42 A.3d 1059 (Pa.2012) (some internal citations omitted).
This Court has recognized that “a true weight of the evidence
challenge concedes that sufficient evidence exists to sustain the verdict but
questions which evidence is to be believed.” Commonwealth v.
Thompson, 106 A.3d 742, 758 (Pa.Super.2014). Accordingly, “[o]ne of the
least assailable reasons for granting or denying a new trial is the lower
court’s conviction that the verdict was or was not against the weight of the
evidence and that a new trial should be granted in the interest of justice.”
Commonwealth v. Clay, 64 A.3d 1049, 1055 (Pa.2013). A trial judge
should not grant a new trial due to “a mere conflict in the testimony or
because the judge on the same facts would have arrived at a different
conclusion.” Id. Instead, the trial court must examine whether
“notwithstanding all the facts, certain facts are so clearly of greater weight
that to ignore them or to give them equal weight with all the facts is to deny
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justice.” Id. Only where the jury verdict “is so contrary to the evidence as
to shock one’s sense of justice”2 should a trial court afford a defendant a
new trial. Id.
Here, the verdicts are not so contrary to the evidence as to shock
one’s sense of justice. Appellant admitted to feeling angry about losing his
house at a judicial tax sale and telling neighbors that he would set fire to the
house so that nobody else would be able to live in it. He was the only
person in his home at the time of the fire. He denied entering the
basement, so he could not have set the fire that started there by accident.
The fire ignited a few days before he needed to clean the house to avoid
eviction, and he filed an insurance claim the next day. His daughter had
secured him another place to live at that time. Further, he seemed cocky
after the fire, joked about what a coincidence the fire created, and stated
that he was glad the house had burned. The trial court did not abuse its
discretion in denying Appellant’s challenge to the weight of the evidence.
Next, Appellant challenges a trial court evidentiary ruling. He claims
the court erred in failing to admit evidence of arson in another home in his
neighborhood. He claims that evidence of this incident would establish that
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When “the figure of Justice totters on her pedestal, or when the jury’s
verdict, at the time of its rendition, causes the trial judge to lose his breath,
temporarily, and causes him to almost fall from the bench, then it is truly
shocking to the judicial conscience.” Commonwealth v. Cruz, 919 A.2d
279, 282 (Pa.Super.2007) (internal citations omitted).
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someone other than Appellant started the fire and the court erred in its
exclusion of it. Again, we disagree.
“The admission of evidence is solely within the discretion of the trial
court, and a trial court’s evidentiary rulings will be reversed on appeal only
upon an abuse of that discretion.” Commonwealth v. Woodard, 129 A.3d
480, 494 (Pa.2015) (quoting Commonwealth v. Reid, 99 A.3d 470, 493
(Pa.2014)). “An abuse of discretion may not be found merely because an
appellate court might have reached a different conclusion, but requires a
result of manifest unreasonableness, or partiality, prejudice, bias, or ill-will,
or such lack of support so as to be clearly erroneous.” Commonwealth v.
Hairston, 84 A.3d 657, 664-65 (Pa.2014), cert. denied sub nom. Hairston
v. Pennsylvania, ___ U.S. ___, 135 S. Ct. 164, 190 L. Ed. 2d 118 (2014)
(citing Commonwealth v. Dillon, 925 A.2d 131, 136 (Pa.2007)); Grady v.
Frito–Lay, Inc., 839 A.2d 1038, 1046 (Pa.2003).
The admissibility of evidence “depends on relevance and probative
value. Evidence is relevant if it logically tends to establish a material fact in
the case, tends to make a fact at issue more or less probable or supports a
reasonable inference or presumption regarding a material fact.”
Commonwealth v. Levanduski, 907 A.2d 3, 13 (Pa.Super.2006) (en
banc), appeal denied, 919 A.2d 955 ([Pa.]2007) (quoting Commonwealth
v. Drumheller, 808 A.2d 893, 904 ([Pa.]2002), certiorari denied, 539 U.S.
919, 123 S.Ct. 2284, 156 L.Ed.2d 137 (2003)).
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“It is well established that evidence which tends to show
that the crime for which an accused stands trial was
committed by someone else is relevant and admissible.”
Commonwealth v. McGowan, 635 A.2d 113, 115
(Pa.1993). In this regard, “the defense may introduce
evidence that someone else committed a crime which
bears a highly detailed similarity to the crime with which
the defendant is charged.” Id. (citing with approval
Commonwealth v. Rini, 427 A.2d 1385
([Pa.Super.]1981)).
Commonwealth v. Weiss, 81 A.3d 767, 806-07 (Pa.2013).
Evidence of the other similar crime must be
so nearly identical in method as to earmark [it] as the
handiwork of the accused. Here much more is demanded
than the mere repeated commission of crimes of the same
class, such as repeated burglaries or thefts. The device
used must be so unusual and distinctive as to be like a
signature ....
In addition, the Supreme Court has indicated that
remoteness is a factor which must also be considered in
determining the similarity of the crimes… [W]e therefore
find the following factors to be relevant in determining
whether evidence of the other uncharged offense or bad
act is admissible: (1) the time lapse between the
commission of the two crimes; and (2) the resemblance
between the methodologies of the two crimes.
Commonwealth v. Nocero, 582 A.2d 376, 378-79 (Pa.Super.1990)
(internal quotations and citations omitted) (emphasis in original).
This court has previously held that where two separate
crimes are committed within one hour in the same
geographic area, evidence of the uncharged crime is
admissible. However, where there is a time lapse of
several years or months between the time that the
offenses were committed, then evidence of the other crime
has been held to be inadmissible.
Id. (internal citations omitted).
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Here, the trial court denied Appellant’s motion to compel the
production of the arson investigation report of another home, because it
would not lead to admissible evidence. The trial court reasoned:
Based upon the in camera review of the PSP investigative
materials, the arson which occurred at 37 Belmont Street
does not bear a highly detailed similarity to the arson with
which [Appellant] is charged. The lapse of time between
the commission of the two arsons was slightly more than
six months… Furthermore, the methodologies employed
(i.e., ignition of ignitable liquid poured in the area vs. open
flame ignition on available combustible material) are not
so nearly identical in method with the device used, so
unusual and distinctive as to be like a signature or the
handiwork of the same individual.
Trial Court Order, filed February 12, 2015, at 5-6 (internal quotations and
citations omitted).
We see no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s refusal to admit
evidence of the arson committed in an unoccupied structure, six months
after the fire at the property.
In his final issue, Appellant argues the trial court erred by allowing
rebuttal or impeachment evidence following his testimony, because he never
denied a statement for which he was impeached. Again, Appellant
challenges the trial court’s evidentiary ruling.
“The general rule is that a prior inconsistent statement of a declarant
is admissible to impeach the declarant.” Commonwealth v. Henkel, 938
A.2d 433, 442 (Pa.Super.2007) (citing Commonwealth v. Brady, 507 A.2d
66, 68 (Pa.1986)). “In order to do so, there must be evidence that the
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statement was made or adopted by the witness whose credibility is being
impeached.” Commonwealth v. Brown, 448 A.2d 1097, 1102
(Pa.Super.1982) (internal citation omitted).
Appellant argues that upon cross-examination, he told the prosecutor
that he could not remember exactly what he told Trooper Castaldi during his
three interviews, and that Trooper Castaldi’s testimony could be right. He
claims that because he never denied making the statement to Trooper
Castaldi, the court should not have allowed Trooper Castaldi to impeach him
with a prior inconsistent statement. At trial, defense counsel objected to
Trooper Castaldi’s testimony, which followed Appellant’s testimony, because
it was not impeachment testimony and should have been presented in the
Commonwealth’s case in chief.
The trial court reasoned:
[Appellant] testified in his own defense, and denied having
provided a particular version of events during his interview
by Trooper William Castaldi. In an effort to rebut that
unanticipated denial by [Appellant], the Commonwealth
presented the testimony of Trooper Castaldi who briefly
testified regarding the statement that [Appellant] provided
to him, and which varied from [Appellant’s] trial testimony
relative to the sequence of events immediately prior to the
fire. Defense counsel objected to the presentation of
Trooper Castaldi’s rebuttal testimony, but that objection
was overruled on the ground that the Commonwealth
could not have known, prior to the trial testimony of
[Appellant], that [Appellant] would deny having made the
proffered statement to Trooper Castaldi.
The Commonwealth is permitted to present rebuttal
testimony to contradict evidence that is offered by the
defense. Since [Appellant] did not testify during the
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preliminary hearing in this case, the Commonwealth did
not learn until [Appellant’s] trial testimony that he was
disputing the contents of the statement that he provided to
Trooper Castaldi. Consequently, it was not an abuse of
discretion to permit the Commonwealth to offer Trooper
Castaldi’s rebuttal testimony to contradict the sequence of
events that [Appellant] offered at trial.
Trial Court Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) Opinion, filed October 14, 2015, at 4-5
(citations to the record omitted).
Even if Appellant’s claim had merit and the court erred by admitting
the impeachment testimony, the error was harmless.3
Here, for the reasons previously stated, the evidence was
overwhelming that Appellant committed the crime, even without Trooper
Castaldi’s testimony. Further, Appellant admitted at trial that he might have
made inconsistent statements to Trooper Castaldi, so the Commonwealth’s
presentation of these inconsistent statements did not prejudice him.
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An error is harmless where:
(1) the error did not prejudice the defendant or the
prejudice was de minimis; or (2) the erroneously admitted
evidence was merely cumulative of other untainted
evidence which was substantially similar to the erroneously
admitted evidence; or (3) the properly admitted and
uncontradicted evidence of guilt was so overwhelming and
the prejudicial [e]ffect of the error so insignificant by
comparison that the error could not have contributed to
the verdict.
Commonwealth v. Green, 76 A.3d 575, 582 (Pa.Super.2013) (internal
citation omitted).
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Judgment of sentence affirmed.
Judgment Entered.
Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.
Prothonotary
Date: 7/21/2016
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Com. v. Killiany, M.
Combined Opinion