Com. v. Ahmad, T.

• Court: Superior Court of Pennsylvania
• Decided: April 29, 2025
• Docket: 1416 MDA 2024
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

J-S10017-25

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : THOMAS AHMAD : : Appellant : No. 1416 MDA 2024

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered August 29, 2024 In the Court of Common Pleas of Northumberland County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-49-CR-0001038-2023

BEFORE: BOWES, J., OLSON, J., and SULLIVAN, J.

MEMORANDUM BY OLSON, J.: FILED: APRIL 29, 2025

Appellant, Thomas Ahmad (Appellant), appeals from the judgment of

sentence entered on August 29, 2024 in the Criminal Division of the Court of

Common Pleas of Northumberland County, following his jury trial convictions

for strangulation, simple assault, and summary harassment – subject other

person to physical contact.1 We affirm.

On June 1, 2023, Appellant and Lauraleigh Pease (Victim) got into an

altercation. At trial, Victim testified that Appellant came home from a party

intoxicated, and she started to share her general concerns about the state of

their relationship. N.T. Trial, 6/13/24, at 27. Victim said to Appellant that

she no longer felt he loved her. Id. Appellant confirmed this was true, and

Victim began to cry. Id. Victim testified that Appellant began to choke her

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1 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2718(a)(1), 2701(a)(1), and 2709(a)(1). J-S10017-25

at this time. Id. According to Victim, Appellant got on top of her, applied

pressure with both hands to her throat, and whispered, “shhh, go to sleep, it’ll

be over soon, just go to sleep.” Id. Victim further stated that “it felt like

[her] face was going to pop off. My vision was going black.” Id. at 28.

Victim continued to struggle and, although she temporarily broke free,

Appellant struck her in the face. Id. During the altercation, Victim sustained

injuries to her neck, head, and arms before she overtook Appellant and

declared, “this is done.” Id. at 29-30. Victim then summoned the police. Id.

at 30. She left her children with a neighbor and went to the hospital, after

photographs were taken of her injuries. Id. at 29. Victim testified that

Appellant “[put] as much pressure as he could down on my neck.” Id. at 30.

At the conclusion of trial on June 13, 2024, a jury found Appellant guilty

of the above-referenced charges. Thereafter, on August 29, 2024, Appellant

received an aggregate sentence of 16 to 48 months’ incarceration.2 No

post-sentence motions were filed. Appellant lodged a direct appeal on

September 24, 2024 and filed a concise statement of errors complained of on

2 More specifically, the trial court ordered Appellant to serve 16 to 48 months’

incarceration for strangulation and one to 24 months’ incarceration for simple assault. These sentences were imposed concurrently. This Court has previously held that strangulation and simple assault do not merge for sentencing purposes. See Commonwealth v. Butler, 256 A.3d 19, *4 (Pa. Super. 2021) (non-precedential decision) (“simple assault under [Section 2701(a)(1) and strangulation under Section 2718(a)(1)] each contain an element the other does not” and, thus, the offenses do not meet the two-part merger test outlined in 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9765). Pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 126, unpublished non-precedential decisions of the Superior Court filed after May 1, 2019 may be cited for persuasive value. See Pa.R.A.P. 126.

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appeal on October 15, 2024. The trial court issued its opinion pursuant to

Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) on November 14, 2024. Appellant argues that the

Commonwealth failed to introduce sufficient evidence to prove that he

intentionally impeded Victim’s breathing or the circulation of her blood. See

Appellant’s Brief at 6.

Strangulation is committed when, “the person knowingly or intentionally

impedes the breathing or circulation of the blood of another person by

applying pressure to the throat or neck.” 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2718(a)(1). The

Crimes Code defines “intentionally” as the actor's “conscious object to engage

in conduct of that nature or to cause such a result.” 18 Pa.C.S.A.

§ 302(b)(1)(i). “Intent can be proven by direct or circumstantial evidence

[and] it may be inferred from acts or conduct or from the attendant

circumstances.” Commonwealth v. Miller, 172 A.3d 632, 641 (Pa. Super.

2017).

In a recent case on all fours with the instant appeal, this Court, in

Commonwealth v. Horlick, 296 A.3d 60 (Pa. Super. 2023), observed that

“squeezing a person's neck is well understood to impede that person's

breathing [and that fact] alone is enough for a factfinder to reasonably infer

that the result is known or intended.” Id. at 63. Here, the trial court

concluded there was sufficient evidence to prove strangulation under Section

2718(a)(1) based upon Victim’s recollection of Appellant’s statements during

the attack, the bruising observed on Victim’s neck, and Victim’s testimony

regarding the pressure Appellant applied to her throat. See Trial Court

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Opinion, 11/14/24, at 3 (unpaginated). Our study of the certified record

confirms that the evidence introduced at trial supports the trial court’s

assessment. Accordingly, we, too, conclude that the evidence was more than

sufficient to find Appellant guilty of strangulation. Hence, we affirm the

judgment of sentence.

Judgment of sentence affirmed. Judgment Entered.

Benjamin D. Kohler, Esq. Prothonotary

Date: 04/29/2025

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