Commonwealth v. Tolbert

BECK, Judge:

These appeals require us to address the complex issue of collateral estoppel in criminal retrials. Our review of the record leads us to affirm the judgment of sentence in appellant Smith’s case and affirm the collateral order in appellant Tolbert’s case. A thorough summary of the history of the cases, both factual and procedural, must precede our analysis.

Appellants Anthony Tolbert and John Smith were accused, along with another man named Anthony Russo, of beating to death the victim, Hector Maldonado. The Commonwealth’s theory of the case began with Maldonado’s failure to deliver…