Although the decision to proceed on appeal without oral argument may be a tactical one that counsel is entitled to make, see Supreme Court Rule 32, like every *146 tactical decision, that option must be selected on some reasonable basis designed to effectuate the client's interests. As in Scaramuzzino. Appellant concedes that the Commonwealth has proved all the essential elements of the murders except the identity of the perpetrator. McGrath drove off but returned to the premises within 15 minutes. Nor do we believe that the failure to introduce these alleged inconsistent statements from the interview constituted ineffective stewardship. A second line with a different call number had been prearranged by Gorey to ring in his office so that he could receive an anticipated call from Joseph Vernick at 7:00 P. M. One Irene Glenn testified for the Commonwealth that she dialed the regular union phone number about 6:15 P.M. that evening and a man answered identifying himself as Gorey. This unprecedented procedure produces, moreover, the bizarre spectacle of the defendant being granted by the trial court something he had previously been twice denied by this Court, viz., a reargument of his direct appeal. The record indicates that the memorandum contained a request for a continuance to afford the Commonwealth an opportunity to test fire certain weapons to determine whether they were used in the perpetration of the homicides. [6] I *177 fail to see how these pictures, offered as circumstantial evidence that the killing was murder of the first degree, are more convincing than a stipulation to the legal conclusion they were offered to prove. Mr. Crawford characterized the brief as "excellent" [456a, 457a]. The men were identified as Francis J. Sheeran, 58 years old, of Bensalem Township, president of Local 326 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Wilmington, Del., and Louis J. Bottone, 46, of Roslyn, a former president of Local 107 in Philadelphia. In 1984, he was appointed as an organizer and business agent within the local. the *195 more inflammatory the photograph the greater the need to establish the essential evidentiary value." A civil rights league organized by mobsters to defend the rights of Italian-Americans victimized by stereotyping is, in itself, a stereotype. Justice For Sanitation Workers at Republic/Allied Waste : Teamsters Local 107 . I would therefore reverse the judgment of sentence. Having determined appellant had representation during this period we now consider whether said counsel had adequate notice of the presentments and an opportunity to challenge the array of the jury. International Brotherhood of Teamsters. This conclusion is buttressed by the actions of Carchidi, a co-defendant, who entered the conference room and without engaging in discussion with appellant, also instructed McGrath to defer his duties until Sunday. That petition squarely raised the issues of the ineffectiveness of appellate counsel and the denial of Sullivan's right of appeal. The Commonwealth argues that the PCHA court erred in granting Sullivan a new appeal because (1) the court was without authority to do so, and (2) the record fails to support the court's conclusion that Sullivan did not receive effective assistance of appellate counsel. (This would be reinforced later when, living with a new identity after being relocated by federal authorities, he was charged with sexually abusing a step-daughter.). Review: "I Heard You Paint Houses": Frank 'the Irishman' Sheeran and the Inside Story of the Mafia, the Teamsters, and the Final Ride of Jimmy Hoffa. The chapters on the trials show Hoffa as master strategist and as a brazen crook who used threats and bribes routinely. [3] This opinion, authored by the present writer, was joined by Mr. Justice (now Chief Justice) JONES and Mr. Justice O'BRIEN. The salutary procedures of post-conviction relief have been misapplied so as to wipe out, by the well-meaning but misguided order of a common pleas judge, a decision of and opinions previously filed by this Court. Sullivan again suggested that McGrath postpone his duties until Sunday. Immediately after Gorey left the conference room, appellant appeared in the doorway, through which Gorey had just passed, and again questioned McGrath about the cleaning and suggested he defer his activities until Sunday afternoon. Although the admission of such photographic evidence has been held to be a matter within the discretion of the trial judge, the test remains one of ascertaining whether or not the photographs are of such essential evidentiary value that their need clearly outweighs the likelihood of inflaming the minds and passions of the jurors. Moldea thinks Sheeran embellished the story by making himself the trigger man, but that otherwise there's a lot to learn from the book. Then he fell halfway under the desk. . This is a fact of which we have personal, direct knowledge. McGrath promptly left the building, stopping only to note that Sullivan's, Carchidi's, Anthony DiPasquale's and Gorey's cars were parked near the building, and to talk with a group of men standing outside the building. Subscribers may view the full text of this article in its original form through TimesMachine. His failure to comply with the clear mandate of the rule precludes relief once the indictments were submitted to the panel. There is however, absolutely no factual basis for this assertion. The inflammatory effect of the photographs in the instant case was significantly greater, it seems to me, than was condemned in Scaramuzzino. The Commission report points to meetings at Vesuvios Restaurant in New York where Bufalino, accompanied by Sheeran, met to discuss mob business. Allen to murder former Local 107 member Robert (Big Bobby) Marino on Feb. 3.1976. The thrust of the objection was directed to a private communication between court and prosecution from which the defense was excluded. However, appellant was the only known person on the second floor whose whereabouts were unaccounted for during the shootings. [10] It is this portion of the PCHA order from which the Commonwealth has appealed. Plainly visible is a bullet hole in the middle of the forehead just above the eyebrows; a bullet wound in the corner of the left eye; blood coursing from the bullet wound of the forehead; blood coursing from the bullet wound of the eye; blood, dried and caked in layers coursing from the nose; blood flowing from the right ear; the entire collar and part of the shoulder of the shirt stained and splattered with blood; blood flowing from a bullet wound in the abdominal area just to the left of the navel; *192 and a bullet wound just to the left and above the navel. I shot him with a .22 but that didnt seem to have any effect because he was a big man, Allen later testified. Caramandi, one of the first Philadelphia mobsters to turn government witness back in the 1980s, said he has no first-hand knowledge of the Hoffa hit, but said everyone in the underworld knew it came from those guys in North JerseyProvenzano and his people. He doubts very much that Sheeran was the shooter. The division of the court with respect to affirming the judgments was again noted, and the contention was advanced, citing Neil v. Biggers, 409 U.S. 188, 93 S. Ct. 375, 34 L. Ed. The decision not to present a defense is a tactical one and will not be deemed ineffective stewardship if there is a reasonable basis for that position. I have viewed these photographs. The majority asserts that this photographic evidence was admissible to prove that the two victims were killed with an intent to kill. We will consider first the Commonwealth's appeal. Upon re-entering the building, he found the offices closed, the conference room locked and the lights out. Unless the probity of the particular pictures offered is carefully considered, and the alternative sources of proof are given proper consideration, these assertions become legal fictions by which the standard set out in Commonwealth v. Powell, 428 Pa. 275, 241 A.2d 119 (1968), is circumvented. On this appeal, we find there is sufficient evidence in the record to support the factual findings of the PCHA court. This writer dissented, contending that if the pictures in question are not inflammatory, this is merely a factor to be considered in applying the Powell test. Allen later testified about a series of murders, attempted murders, arsons and bombings he said he carried out for Sheeran, including the murder of Teamsters Local 500 leader Francis Big Bobby Marino who was gunned down in his union office. These reasons advanced for reargument were premised on two introductory averments in the petition: (1) that the judgments were affirmed by an evenly divided Court; and (2) that the docket "does not reflect the filing of a brief nor the argument of his cases by prior counsel on appellant's behalf." In that event, the determination of waiver or the decision on the merits would be subject to review on the direct appeal. See Commonwealth v. Dancer, supra. In November of that year, on the basis of evidence presented at a Medical Examiner's inquest, John Sullivan, also an officer of the local, was charged with both . Proper inquiry of members of this Court at an early stage would have laid this question to rest, if indeed verification of the filing of a brief were needed in light of note 1 of the opinion in support of affirmance, 446 Pa. at 419, 286 A.2d 898. Sheeran makes very clear who their victims are: they kill their own. Experience discloses that judges usually vote to eliminate oral argument: . Additionally, appellant suggests the court's instructions improperly emphasized certain evidence and did not fairly state all the possible verdicts in the case thereby usurping the jury's fact-finding function and directing them toward a first degree murder conviction. I got one of them steel baseball bats. [19] The opinion of the Court states in wholly conclusory fashion (n. 10, 472 Pa. p. 146, 371 A.2d p. 476 of its opinion, supra) that the brief "did not represent the studied exposition of the difficult and complex issues raised in this trial". Hoffa was tried for taking payoffs from carhaul employers, and got a hung jury by bribing several jurors. Initially we recognize that a presumption exists that counsel is competent, Commonwealth v. Murray, supra, 452 Pa. at 286, 305 A.2d at 36; Commonwealth ex rel. Need A Union. Commonwealth v. Farquharson, 467 Pa. 50, 354 A.2d 545 (1976); Commonwealth v. Cox, 466 Pa. 582, 353 A.2d 844 (1976). [14] This Court having denied *185 relief, the court of common pleas should not have undertaken to hear the case at all insofar as the competence of appellate counsel was concerned. Four of the other claims for relief, namely, denial of opportunity to challenge the array of the grand jury, wrongful admission of color slides, admission of hearsay evidence, and want of sufficient evidence, were extensively dealt with in the opinion in support of the order of affirmance on the prior appeal. 9-10. We held that this evidence together with other circumstantial evidence was sufficient to sustain a conviction for murder in the second degree. Their presentation to the jury deprived appellant of a fair trial. After lengthy discussion as to the admissibility of the statement, the witness was permitted to testify concerning Carchidi's remark. The fact that a guy like Sheeran was chosen to head one of the new locals put the lie to the reform effort. While we do not condone such a practice we do not find that any prejudice to appellant resulted in this case. The evidence was insufficient to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. After due consideration, the motion was denied by this Court. Then Hoffa was tried and convicted in 1964 for the jury tampering, and also convicted by a Chicago jury of defrauding the Central States Pension Fund to line his own pocket in a Florida land scam. 121 the Court, in my judgment, turns Pennsylvania appellate jurisprudence in criminal cases on its head, and seriously compromises the integrity of the appellate process. Copyright 2020 JerseyMan Magazine. The record is unclear as to who filed it with the Supreme Court, although Mr. Peruto assumed "someone in my office might have done something about it." It represents truck drivers,. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. [23] I note with interest the following statement by present counsel for Mr. Sullivan at the conclusion of the post-conviction proceedings before Judge Doty: "Ms. Gelb (addressing the court): We consulted with Mr. Sullivan and he has agreed that there is no need for oral argument. Despite the information elicited from this witness, defense counsel never attempted to subpoena McGill as a *165 witness nor did they request any notes that might have been taken by McGill of his conversation with McGrath. 1975). Appellant's brief at Nos. The Commonwealth asserts that a brief, in fact, had been filed and that the decision to submit the case on briefs was reasonably made in Sullivan's best interests. For these reasons we find that the charge was proper and therefore there was no necessity for counsel to object. [20] But to say as much is not to suggest that absence of oral argument is apt to make a difference in the outcome of a case especially a case that, due to a heavy backlog of cases awaiting disposition, cannot be decided for some time to come. We disagree. [9] Judge Doty's findings did not bear out the repeated charge that no brief had been filed on appellant's behalf. See also Commonwealth v. Beecham, 450 Pa. 197, 299 A.2d 651 (1973). From this portion of the order Sullivan has appealed. The Deputy District Attorney, James D. Crawford, Esq., testified that he received his copy of the brief from Mr. Peruto's office; also that he was "with Mr. Peruto personally in the Supreme Court Prothonotary's office when they [the briefs of the parties] were filed, or when they had been filed. [17] The remainder of Sullivan's present brief (which is concerned with the appeal at No. retain the opportunity of obtaining a whole new direct appeal via the Post Conviction Hearing Act." [18] The brief was prepared by Judge DiBona as a rough draft before he went on the bench and sent by him to his former co-counsel, Mr. Peruto, thereafter. In each of those cases, we independently determined that the brief or petition for allowance of appeal filed was inadequate and remanded the case to the Superior Court for the filing of a proper brief or petition. Those guys were tough. After a hearing, the court concluded that Sullivan had not received effective assistance of counsel on appeal. See also, Commonwealth v. Jones, 456 Pa. 270, 318 A.2d 711 (1974). I have viewed these slides. Commonwealth v. Bailey, 448 Pa. 224, 292 A.2d 345 (1972). [1] A direct appeal to this Court was then taken. See Commonwealth v. Cheeks, 429 Pa. 89, 96-97, 239 A.2d 793, 797 (1968). EAGEN, J., dissents in the appeal docketed at No. They would take care of their own problem.. He was elected President of Local 107 in 2000, a . What is Teamster Rank & File Education and Legal Defense Foundation (TRF)? . Given the availability of these alternative sources of evidence, the pictures did not have "essential evidentiary value.". About 6:15 p.m., McGrath re-entered the office in which Sullivan was seated to empty some trash cans, and he and Sullivan observed Gorey and Janda arrive at the building. The issues Sullivan raised on his prior direct appeal were not so cognizable, being of non-constitutional dimension. The following day, the jury determined that Sullivan should be sentenced to serve two consecutive terms of life imprisonment. Moreover, the proposition that a stipulation cannot render the Commonwealth's "most convincing evidence" inadmissible misapplies the test set out in Commonwealth v. Powell, 428 Pa. 275, 241 A.2d 199 (1968). 2023 TDU Convention, Nov. 3-5, IBT to Yellow: No Contract Re-opener Without Economic Improvements. Washington v. Maroney, supra, 427 Pa. at 605 n. 8, 235 A.2d at 353 n. 8 "a finding of ineffectiveness could never be made unless we concluded that the alternatives not chosen offered a potential for success substantially greater than the tactics actually utilized." You kill somebody, you want to get as far away from the body as quickly as you can, he said. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 107 (JDM Materials Company (Eureka Stone Quarry, Inc. d/b/a JDM Materials Company) E-File Follow Case Number: 04-CB-084647 Date Filed: 07/05/2012 Status: Closed Location: Chester, PA Region Assigned: Region 04, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Docket Activity Items per page 1 2 Next Last Commonwealth v. Powell, 428 Pa. 275, 241 A.2d 119 (1968). (Maj. opinion at pages 481, 482). The court denied Sullivan relief on his other claims finding that some were without merit and that others were available to him in his new direct appeal to this Court.[5]. Commonwealth v. Rice, 456 Pa. 90, 318 A.2d 705 (1974). And no way was the body driven back to New Jersey and buried in a landfill, as some have speculated. [20] Restrictions on oral argument are being frequently imposed by appellate courts because of their heavy workloads, a condition suffered by each of the three appellate courts of this Commonwealth. See Opinion of the Court, 472 Pa. at ___, 371 A.2d at 476. Moreover, in no appeals from orders rendered in PCHA proceedings do we permit oral argument except by special order of court, notwithstanding that all such cases appealed as of right to this Court involve felonious homicides. [5], *181 Having failed in two attempts in this Court for relief based on the fact that the Court had been evenly divided in its decision and the charge that no briefs or argument had been made in this Court, appellant then filed a petition with the court of common pleas seeking relief under the Post Conviction Hearing Act. The only justification for a deviation from this practice is where the trial record is inadequate to provide a basis for a review of the claim or where the claim was not ruled upon by the trial court. I cannot believe that a jury needs photographic evidence, in addition to *176 the Commonwealth's uncontradicted ballistic evidence, to be convinced that a person shot six times at close range was shot with an intent to kill. A somewhat more detailed recital of the relevant history of the case is necessary to an understanding of the jurisprudential issue. Our law is well settled that the admission of this type of evidence is within the discretion of the trial court and absent an abuse of that discretion, there is no reversible error. [7], After the taking of extensive testimony,[8] the learned hearing judge, noting that this Court had divided evenly, *182 concluded that "[o]ral argument might have persuaded a different decision." Bill Hamilton has been a Teamster since 1966. The next photograph is a close-up of the victim's right shoulder taken from the rear, revealing *194 a bullet hole to the upper right arm and also shows the victim's chin, mouth, right breast, and right arm stained with blood. We believe this test was satisfied. In light of this stipulation, the pictures could not possibly have any evidentiary value. Thus counsel is deemed constitutionally effective once we conclude that the particular course chosen was in the interest of the client and we will not substitute hindsight evaluation of the record to retrospectively determine whether counsel's decision was reasonable. While mob influence in the Teamsters (and in the USA overall) is lower today, the culture created then lives on inside much of the Teamsters. The next is an identical close-up of appellant's face taken from the right, this time with some of the blood removed to more clearly reveal the bullet hole in the left corner of the right eye, the bullet hole in the right temple, the dried and caked blood in front of the right ear, and blood staining the victim's blonde hair red at the top of her forehead. Dist. Mr. Peruto, who served as co-counsel during trial and sole counsel before this Court, also had no recollection of a brief being filed. In Commonwealth v. Scaramuzzino, 455 Pa. 378, 317 A.2d 225 (1974), we noted that the practice of admitting photographs of the body of the decedent is to be condemned unless those photographs have essential evidentiary value. Secretary-Treasurer: Erin Foley . Employer/Location Union Employees Date; Allied Building Products Corp (Phila Glenolden & Horsham PA) Glenolden, PA: IBT Local 107: 8: November 12th, 2010: MAC Steel Philadelphia, PA: IBT Local . Commonwealth v. Powell, 428 Pa. 275, 278-79, 241 A.2d 119, 121 (1968). In this petition it was asserted again that "no brief was ever filed in support of appellant's appeal" and that no oral argument was made, prior counsel having made admissions to this effect.
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