Summary
The Pennsylvania Superior Court reviewed consolidated appeals arising from John Verilla’s convictions for murder, kidnapping, and related conspiracies, as well as an order assessing court-appointed counsel fees and costs. The court affirmed the first-degree murder judgment, vacated the kidnapping and conspiracy convictions as barred by the applicable limitations period, and reversed the counsel-fee assessment for lack of statutory authority.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the appellant waived claims that were not properly preserved in post-trial motions.
- Whether the Commonwealth's disclosure of a witness's name, statement, and grand-jury testimony during jury selection required exclusion of the witness's testimony.
- Whether the kidnapping and conspiracy prosecutions were barred by the applicable two-year statute of limitations.
- Whether a trial court had statutory authority to assess the costs of court-appointed counsel against a defendant who was not determined to be indigent.
Holdings
- Claims omitted from timely post-trial motions, or raised in an untimely amended motion when a transcript was not necessary to decide the claim, are waived on appeal.
- The trial court did not err in permitting the Commonwealth's witness to testify where the witness's information and statement were disclosed shortly before trial, defense counsel received the grand-jury testimony at the beginning of voir dire, counsel used it for impeachment, and no prejudice was shown.
- The kidnapping prosecution was time-barred because the offense was committed on January 23, 1979, and the two-year limitations period began to run the next day; the continuing-course-of-conduct provision did not apply to kidnapping.
- The conspiracy prosecutions were time-barred because the conspiracies terminated when the crimes that were their objects were committed, more than two years before prosecution commenced.
- A trial court may not assess counsel fees and costs for court-appointed counsel against a defendant absent statutory authority expressly authorizing the assessment.
Key quotations
“Rule 316 provides simply for the assignment of counsel; it has no provisions authorizing the court to order payment of fees.” (395)
“Absent an indication by our legislature sanctioning the assessment of counsel fees for court-appointed counsel, we decline to validate orders granting such relief to counties.” (396)
Factual background
John Clark was kidnapped and murdered on January 23, 1979, and the prosecution was not commenced until more than two years later. Verilla was tried and convicted of murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy offenses arising from Clark's death. After retained counsel withdrew for nonpayment, the trial court appointed counsel despite the public defender's refusal to find Verilla indigent and later ordered Verilla to reimburse the county for counsel fees and costs.
Procedural history
Following a jury trial, Verilla was convicted of first-degree murder, kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. The trial court denied timely post-trial motions, imposed a life sentence for murder and concurrent terms of ten to twenty years for the remaining offenses, and later assessed counsel fees and costs against Verilla. The Superior Court affirmed the murder judgment, vacated the judgments for kidnapping and both conspiracy offenses as time-barred, and reversed the counsel-fee assessment.
Remand instructions
The judgments of sentence for kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping were vacated; the judgment of sentence for first-degree murder was affirmed; the counsel-fee and costs order was reversed. Jurisdiction was relinquished.