Opinion
No. 178 WDA2020
12-22-2020
COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant v. Arther Thompson WELLS, Appellee
MEMORANDUM BY STABILE, J.:
The Commonwealth appeals from the amended order entered on January 29, 2020 in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, granting the petition for writ of habeas corpus of Appellee, Arther Thompson Wells ("Wells"), and dismissing several criminal charges stemming from a fatal motor vehicle accident. Upon review, we affirm.
A December 6, 2017 accident on State Route 28 in Allegheny County involved four vehicles and resulted in the death of Zachary Wilkoski, whose Ford Mustang was struck from behind by a tractor-trailer operated by Wells. Wells told an officer at the scene that he was looking over his left shoulder at the time of the accident, as he was attempting to merge into the left lane of the roadway. Following an investigation, Wells was charged with one count each of homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, recklessly endangering another person, and reckless driving.
75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3732(a), 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2504(a) and 2705, and 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3736, respectively. Wells was also charged with following too closely, 75 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 3310(a). However, that charge is not at issue in this appeal.
At the conclusion of a February 8, 2019 preliminary hearing, the charges were held for court. Wells filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus seeking dismissal of the charges, contending the Commonwealth could not demonstrate that Wells acted with the requisite mens rea to establish a prima facie case supporting the charges. The trial court agreed and entered an order on January 29, 2020, dismissing the charges. This timely appeal followed. Both the Commonwealth and the trial court complied with Rule 1925.
The Commonwealth presents one issue for our consideration:
I. Whether the trial court erred in finding that the Commonwealth's evidence failed to present a prima [ facie ] case and in granting [Wells'] petition for habeas corpus?
Commonwealth Brief at 4.
In its Rule 1925(a) opinion filed on March 9, 2020, the trial court set forth the relevant standard of appellate review for an order granting a pre-trial writ of habeas corpus , and provided a thorough summary of the evidence adduced at the preliminary and habeas corpus hearings, including findings from the investigating officer, and appropriately did so in a light most favorable to the Commonwealth. The court then reviewed the charges at issue, noting a mens rea of recklessness or gross negligence is required to establish a prima facie case for each crime. Relying on this Court's decisions in Commonwealth v. Wyatt , 203 A.3d 1115 (Pa. Super. 2019), and Commonwealth v. Karner , 193 A.3d 986 (Pa. Super. 2018), the trial court concluded the Commonwealth presented evidence of inattentiveness, falling short of the required mens rea for the crimes charged, and, therefore, the dismissal of the charges was appropriate.
In Wyatt , we affirmed the trial court's determination that the Commonwealth established negligence, carelessness, or inattentiveness at best on the part of the driver of tractor-trailer who crossed a grassy median on I-380, struck another tractor-trailer and a passenger bus, leaving three dead and five others seriously injured. In Karner , we affirmed the trial court's conclusion that the Commonwealth established negligence, not recklessness, for a driver who was exceeding the speed limit when his Ford pickup rearended a sedan, spinning the car across a parking lot and into a building, injuring the driver of the sedan and killing her husband/passenger. By contrast, in Commonwealth v. Huggins , 836 A.3d 862 (Pa. 2003), the Commonwealth did establish a prima facie case when a driver fell asleep while operating a 15-passenger van that was overloaded with 21 children and three adults and, while traveling approximately 78 mph in a 55 mph zone, awoke just before rear-ending a sedan, causing the van to veer to the right and hit an embankment, flipping the van, which came to rest on its passenger side, and killing two children and injuring several other passengers. See also Commonwealth v. Bostian , 232 A.3d 898 (Pa. Super. 2020) (Commonwealth established a prima facie case, especially in terms of the mens rea requirement of recklessness, in Amtrak train derailment case).
Based on our review of the record and relevant case law, we find the trial court conducted an appropriate review and analysis in determining the Commonwealth failed to establish the required mens rea. Consequently, we conclude that the record supports the trial court's findings and that the inferences and legal conclusions drawn from those findings are free of error. Therefore, we affirm the January 29, 2020 order and adopt as our own, and incorporate herein by reference, the trial court's thorough and well-reasoned March 9, 2020 opinion. In the event of further proceedings, the parties shall attach a copy of the March 9, 2020 opinion to their filings.
Although we incorporate the trial court's opinion in its entirety, we note that this Court's decision in Commonwealth v. Sanders , 3562 EDA 2017 (Pa. Super. filed February 3, 2020), cited on page 6 of the trial court's opinion, has been withdrawn.
Order affirmed.
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