PA Superior Court Approves of Consolidation of Unrelated Drug Case With Drug Delivery Resulting in Death Case

Criminal Defense Lawyer Zak T. Goldstein, Esquire

The Superior Court has decided the case of Commonwealth v. Shackelford, holding that the trial court properly allowed the Commonwealth to consolidate the defendant’s possession with the intent to deliver case with his drug delivery resulting in death case. Police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s house in order to investigate a drug delivery homicide, and when they did so, they found a significant quantity of drugs. The drugs obviously could not have caused the decedent’s death as the death occurred prior to the execution of the warrant, but the trial court allowed the Commonwealth to try the cases together. The Superior Court affirmed, holding that the discovery of drugs during the execution of the search warrant would have been admissible in the homicide prosecution. The Court also rejected the defendant’s suppression challenge, finding that a reliable confidential informant provided sufficient probable cause for police to obtain a search warrant.

Commonwealth v. ShackelFord

In April 2021, the decedent was found unresponsive on her bathroom floor. She died in the hospital a few hours later, and police quickly began investigating her death as a potential drug delivery resulting in death homicide. The coroner subsequently determined that the cause of the woman’s death was combined drug toxicity. In her house, detectives located, among other things, cocaine, heroin laced with fentanyl and tramadol, associated drug paraphernalia, and the woman's cellphone. A search of her cellphone revealed that on the night before her death, she had been communicating with a number ending in "7678.” The number was labeled in her phone contacts as "Jazz." Detectives identified the phone number as belonging to the defendant. Fortuitously for the police, investigators were already investigating the defendant for dealing drugs. Investigators found a text message thread between the woman and the defendant which included a request from her to buy drugs. The texts also included messages between the two outlining when and where they would meet.

Detectives spoke with a confidential informant, and the CI told them that the defendant was known to sell drugs. Police thereafter executed a search warrant at the defendant's home based on information from the confidential informant. The police found approximately $7,900 in U.S. currency, over 250 wax paper bags of packaged fentanyl mixed with heroin, over 80 grams of methamphetamine, and quantities of cocaine and marijuana. The defendant later admitted to selling drugs and selling specifically to the woman who died. The Commonwealth filed two sets of charges against the defendant. The first case charged drug delivery resulting in death and criminal use of a communication facility in April 2021. The second case charged possession with intent to deliver fentanyl, possession with intent to deliver methamphetamine, possession of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia for the contraband found in his home in August 2021.

The Commonwealth filed a motion to consolidate the cases and try them together. The defendant filed a motion to sever the cases and suppress the evidence found in his home, arguing that the police did not have probable cause for the search. The trial court heard the motions and denied both of them. In June 2022, the court held a consolidated jury trial on both cases. The defendant was found guilty of drug delivery resulting in death, criminal use of a communication facility, and two possession with intent to deliver charges. The trial court sentenced the defendant to an aggregate incarceration term of 11 – 25 years’ incarceration.

The Criminal Appeal

On appeal, the defendant raised two issues: (1) did the trial court err by failing to find that the search warrant lacked probable cause, and (2) did the trial court err by failing to order separate trials? In the first issue, the defendant argued that the search warrant was issued without probable cause, claiming that the CI’s claims were not credible. He argued that the trial court incorrectly decided the motion, and so all of the evidence obtained in the search should have been deemed inadmissible for trial.

The Superior Court’s standard of review on this issue is limited to the evidence presented at the suppression hearing. At a suppression hearing, the Commonwealth must prove that it did not obtain the challenged evidence in violation of the defendant's rights. The prosecution must prove this by a preponderance of the evidence. A preponderance of the evidence is the lowest burden of proof and requires the Commonwealth essentially to show that it is more likely than not that they did not violate the defendant’s rights. Further, in the absence of an allegation that the police lied in the search warrant, challenges to a search warrant are based solely on the information in the document's four corners. In determining probable cause, the courts utilize a totality of circumstances approach. Probable cause exists where the facts and circumstances are reasonably known and from a trustworthy source and a prudent person of reasonable caution would believe there is a possibility that evidence of a crime could be found in the location to be searched.

The Superior Court agreed with the trial court that the warrant established probable cause. The court reasoned that past information from the CI in question led to two felony convictions. The court further noted that the CI had engaged in an undercover drug purchase from the defendant and that the police had conducted independent surveillance to corroborate the CI’s information. Therefore, the Superior Court agreed with the trial court's assessment that the CI was credible and the warrant contained probable cause. The court rejected the suppression challenge.

In addressing the second issue, the defendant argued that evidence that he had drugs in August 2021 had no relevance in a homicide prosecution for events that took place in April 2021. The defendant argued that evidence from one case would not otherwise be admissible in the other and was merely used to smear him as a drug dealer. The Commonwealth argued that the evidence that he was involved in drug sales just a few months later was relevant to show that he could have been engaged in drug sales in April.

In deciding whether to consolidate or sever two separate cases, a court must determine: (1) whether the evidence of each of the offenses would be admissible in a separate trial for the other; (2) whether such evidence is capable of separation by the jury so as to avoid the danger of confusion; and, if so, (3) whether the consolidation of offenses will unduly prejudice the defendant.

The Superior Court noted that the defendant’s argument only focused on the first aspect. The court determined that the evidence of crimes other than those in question may not be admitted solely to show a defendant's bad character or propensity to commit the crime. However, evidence of other crimes is admissible to demonstrate motive, intent, absence of mistake or accident, a common scheme, plan, or design embracing the commission of two or more crimes so related to each other that proof of one tends to prove the others or the identity of the person charged with the commission of the crime on trial. Additionally, evidence of other crimes is admissible when such evidence is part of the history of the case and forms part of the natural development of the facts.

Here, the trial court had reasoned that the cases should not be severed because the cases proved identity, and the discovery of the drugs was linked to the investigation into the homicide, so the events were connected. The Superior Court agreed with the trial court’s opinion, finding that evidence of each offense would have been admissible in a separate trial for the other. Therefore, the Superior Court affirmed.

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