Commonwealth v. Baboolal

1

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. MARTIN ANTHONY BABOOLAL Appellant

No. 600 EDA 2023

No. J-A04046-24

Superior Court of Pennsylvania

July 16, 2024

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered December 7, 2022 In the Court of Common Pleas of Monroe County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-45-CR-0000056-2021

BEFORE: STABILE, J., McLAUGHLIN, J., and COLINS, J. ^[*]

MEMORANDUM

COLINS, J.

Appellant Martin Anthony Baboolal, appeals from the judgments of sentence imposed by the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas after a jury and the trial court found him guilty of numerous offenses in connection with his high-speed flight from state troopers and local Pocono Township police on October 21 2020. On direct review, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence for his conviction for institutional vandalism and the denial of his motion for dismissal of his charges pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 600. Upon review, we affirm the convictions, vacate the judgments of sentence, and remand for resentencing.

Around 4:00 p.m. on October 21, 2020, Tracy DeHaven returned to his excavating company located on the side of Pennsylvania Route 611 in Monroe County and discovered a man waiting in a car backed up to the rear door of the business. N.T. 11/7/22, 50-52. The man told Mr. DeHaven that he was waiting for his girlfriend. Id. at 51. Mr. DeHaven asked him to leave the property. Id. at 52. The man left the property and returned to it four times before Mr. DeHaven called the local police chief to report the man's refusal to leave. Id. at 52-53. The man left his car once during the return trips to look for an outlet to charge his phone at the business. Id. at 53. Within five minutes of Mr. DeHaven's call to the police chief, officers responded to the location. Id. at 54.

Corporal Aaron Anglemyer and Officer Mike Scicutella of the Pocono Township Police arrived in separate marked patrol cars. N.T. 11/7/22, 59-61; N.T. 11/8/22, 9. Officer Scicutella arrived first and reported to Corporal Anglemyer that the vehicle in question was a black Acura sedan and it had pulled out of the parking lot abruptly and was headed northbound. N.T. 11/7/22, 65-66; N.T. 11/8/22, 9-10, 12-13.

Corporal Anglemyer caught up to the Acura, between a quarter mile and half-mile down Route 611, as it made a right turn onto Wiscasset Drive. N.T. 11/7/22, 67-68. As Corporal Anglemyer pursued the car back onto Route 611 and then onto Route 314 east and Lower Swiftwater Road, he saw the car engage in traffic violations and noticed that the license plate on the car matched the information that Mr. DeHaven had provided to Officer Scicutella, except for one letter in the reported plate number. N.T. 11/7/22, 69; N.T. 11/8/22, 10. He "called the license plate in to [his] control center to run the registration," and activated his lights. N.T. 11/7/22, 69. The license plate on the car was found to have been registered to a different vehicle belonging to a woman. Id. at 86, 88-89. Among the traffic violations of the Acura, Corporal Anglemyer saw it traveling between 80 and 90 miles per hour (where the posted limit was 45 miles per hour), while passing multiple vehicles in the center turn only lane, and cutting into oncoming traffic while cutting corners and traveling between 50 and 70 miles per hour on a rural road (where the posted limit was 35 miles per hour). Id. at 69-70.

The car proceeded south on Route 191 and continued going into the oncoming traffic lane while traveling between 50 and 70 miles per hour and ignoring stop signs. N.T. 11/7/22, 73. The car then pulled away out of Corporal Anglemyer's sight even though the corporal was driving 85 miles per hour. Id. at 74. Soon thereafter, the car made a U-turn and was driving at Corporal Anglemyer. Id. Corporal Anglemyer pulled into the center of the road while traveling as much as ten miles per hour and the car went to pass him. Id. at 75. As the car was passing him, Corporal Anglemyer tried to veer into the rear quarter panel of the Acura to "spin it out." Id. The collision with the Acura ripped the driver's side front tire off Corporal Angelmyer's car, disabling it. Id. The Acura spun out, went down a small embankment, and continued traveling through a wooded area towards Route 715. Id. at 76.

In response to a "call to assist," State Troopers Thomas Rehberg and William Boerstler joined the pursuit of the black Acura in separate marked patrol cars following the Corporal Angelmyer's collision. N.T. 11/7/22, 95, 148. Trooper Rehberg spotted the black Acura on Route 715 as it was being chased at a high rate of speed by a Pocono Township Police car. Id. at 99. After the pursuit went onto side roads from Route 715, Pocono Township police officers and Trooper Boerstler unsuccessfully attempted to use spike strip to deflate the tires of the Acura near the intersection of Routes 715 and 314. Id. at 101, 153. Trooper Boerstler followed the Acura in his patrol car after the spike strip attempt, going south on Route 715 and turning onto Cherry Lane Church Road. Id. at 153-54. Stop sticks were successfully used on the Acura in that location. Id. at 154-55; N.T. 11/8/22, 24, 93-96. Soon thereafter, Detective Sergeant James Wagner also unsuccessfully tried a pit maneuver to stop the Acura; the effort disabled the front left tire of the unmarked Ford Explorer used by the officer. N.T. 11/8/22, 34, 96-97, 99-100.

The Acura struck the side of Trooper Boerstler's car, pushing it off the road. N.T. 11/7/22, 155. The various law enforcement cars attempted to form a rolling roadblock^[1] to contain the Acura and it again struck Trooper Boerstler's car, pushing it off the road for a second time. Id. at 156. By then, the Acura's tires had been completely deflated from the continued use of the stop sticks and the car was moving uncontrolled on its rims. Id. at 104-05, 157. The officers again tried to form a rolling roadblock and the Acura struck the driver's side of Officer Scicutella's car and then backed up and collided with Trooper Rehberg's car. Id. at 106, 157; N.T. 11/8/22, 34, 44-45. Trooper Boerstler then pinned the Acura against a tree to prevent it from continuing to flee. N.T. 11/7/22, 106, 157. At that point, the troopers and officers discovered that the driver of the Acura was Appellant before they removed him from the vehicle and placed him under arrest. Id. at 103, 157; N.T. 11/8/22, 35-36. No other persons were present in the Acura. N.T. 11/7/22, 163.

Following his arrest, Appellant was transported to the state police barracks. N.T. 11/7/22, 106. At 7:00 p.m., Corporal Ian MacMillan of the State Police read a blood draw consent form to Appellant and Appellant refused to submit a blood sample. N.T. 11/8/22, 75-76. While refusing the sample, Appellant made a statement to the Corporal that the officers "knew he was already high." Id. at 76; see also id. at 81, 87. Controlled substances, in addition to other items, were recovered from a backpack that Appellant was wearing at the time he was removed from the Acura. N.T. 11/7/22, 127, 131-33, 138-40; N.T. 11/8/22, 122-23.

The cost to repair the damage to one of the state police cars used in the pursuit totaled $6,892.48. N.T. 11/8/22, 56-58. The cost to repair the damaged Pocono Township police cars exceeded $16,000. Id. at 136.

Appellant proceeded to be tried before a jury on November 7-9, 2022.^[2]The Commonwealth presented testimony from Detective Jonathan Bailey (the assigned detective for the state police), Mr. DeHaven, Corporal Anglemyer, Trooper Rehberg, Trooper Boerstler, Officer Scicutella, Corporal McMillan, Detective Sergeant Wagner, Jennifer Libus (a forensic scientist who generated a report about the recovered controlled substances), and Steven Jurasits (a collision shop owner that made repairs to one of the damaged state police cars). Appellant declined to testify. N.T. 11/9/22, 10.

The jury found Appellant guilty of four counts of recklessly endangering another person, three counts of accident involving damage to attended vehicle or property, and single counts of institutional vandalism involving a pecuniary loss over $5,000, intentional or knowing possession of a controlled substance, flight to avoid apprehension, and fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.^[3] The court also found Appellant guilty of various summary offenses.^[4]Sentencing was deferred for the preparation of pre-sentence investigation report. N.T. 11/9/22, 119.

On December 7, 2022, the court sentenced Appellant to an aggregate imprisonment term of 56 to 114 months, to be followed by a flat two-month imprisonment term, along with $6,892.48 in a restitution award, $1,550 in fines, a $250 fee for providing DNA, blood, and fingerprint samples, and related court costs.^[5] N.T. 12/7/22, 23-25; Sentencing Order, 12/7/22, 1-6. The Commonwealth timely filed a post-sentence motion attaching estimates of the damages to the Pocono Township police cars for the purposes of seeking a reconsideration of the restitution amount. Commonwealth's Post-Sentence Motion, 12/9/22, ¶¶ 7-8 & Exhibit A. Defendant filed an untimely post-sentence motion for reconsideration of sentence. Appellant's Post-Sentence Motion, 12/20/22. On February 2, 2023, the trial court granted the Commonwealth's motion and denied Appellant's motion. Order, 2/2/23, 1. Appellant timely filed a notice of appeal and a court-ordered concise statement of issues complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b).^[6] Notice of Appeal, 3/1/23, 1; Rule 1925 Order, 3/2/23, 1; Rule 1925(b) Statement, 3/23/23, 1-2.

Appellant presents the following questions for our review:

[I]. Whether the trial court erred and abused its discretion by not overturning the guilty verdict for the offense of

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