Commonwealth v. Serge

896 A.2d 1170 (2006)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

D shot his wife, Jennifer, three times, killing her inside their home. D was arrested that morning and charged with one count of first-degree murder, and one count of third-degree murder. P filed a Motion in limine, seeking to present its theory of the fatal shooting through a CGA (computer-generated animation) based on both forensic and physical evidence. The court required P to authenticate the animation as both a fair and accurate depiction of expert reconstructive testimony and exclude any inflammatory features that may cause unfair prejudice. To safeguard against potential prejudice, the trial court required the pre-trial disclosure of the CGA. D alleged that he had acted in self-defense as his wife attacked him with a knife. Alternatively, D argued that his extreme intoxication at the time of the shooting rendered him incapable of formulating the specific intent to kill. P claimed that D, a former Lieutenant of Detectives with the Scranton Police Department, 'used his decades of experience as a police officer to tamper with the crime scene to stage a self-defense setting.' P asserted that D had moved his wife's body and strategically positioned her near a knife that he had placed on the floor, as depicted in the CGA. The CGA showed the theory of P based upon the forensic and physical evidence, of how D shot his wife first in the lower back and then through the heart as she knelt on the living room floor of their home. The animation showed the location of D and his wife in the living room, the positioning of their bodies, and the sequence, path, trajectory, and impact sites of the bullets fired from the handgun. The trial court thoroughly instructed the jury on the purely demonstrative nature of the CGA before and during the jury charge prior to deliberation. The court noted it was a demonstrative exhibit, not substantive evidence, and it was being offered solely as an illustration of the P's version of the events as recreated by Dr. Ross and Trooper Beach. D was found guilty of first-degree murder, and the trial court immediately sentenced him to life imprisonment. D appealed.