Com. v. Alceus, F.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 5, 2021
Docket623 MDA 2020
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Alceus, F. (Com. v. Alceus, F.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Com. v. Alceus, F., (Pa. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

J-S51034-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : FAUSLET ALCEUS : : Appellant : No. 623 MDA 2020

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered January 29, 2020 In the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-22-CR-0005177-2017

BEFORE: MURRAY, J., McLAUGHLIN, J., and McCAFFERY, J.

MEMORANDUM BY McCAFFERY, J.: FILED: JANUARY 5, 2021

Fauslet Alceus (Appellant) appeals from the judgment of sentence

imposed in the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas following his jury

conviction of aggravated assault1 and related charges for the physical assault

of his pregnant ex-wife and their one-year-old twins.2 On appeal, Appellant

challenges the trial court’s denial of his pretrial motion to dismiss the charges

based on a violation of Pennsylvania Rule of Criminal Procedure 600, the

court’s refusal to exclude evidence of his purported prior bad acts, and the

sufficiency of the evidence supporting his convictions. We affirm.

____________________________________________

1 18 Pa.C.S. § 2702(a)(1).

2 The exact age of the twin is unclear in the record. Although the trial court refers to them as “15-month-old twins,” the investigating police officer testified the children were “around one-year, 13 months.” Trial Ct. Op., 6/15/20, at 2; N.T., 10/21/19, at 115. J-S51034-20

The facts, as presented during Appellant’s jury trial, were detailed by

the trial court as follows:

On the night of September 8, 2017 and into the early morning of September 9, 2017, Angelica Fernandez Rodriguez [(Rodriguez)] was staying at her mother’s home in Harrisburg with her five children. [ ] Rodriguez, also five months pregnant, was planning on leaving her husband, . . . Appellant. While sleeping in the early morning of September 9, 2017, [ ] Rodriguez was awoken by Appellant physically beating her. Appellant was able to gain access to the apartment building because the entrance to the apartment building was broken at the time. [ ] Rodriguez’s 8- year-old son opened the apartment door for Appellant after he knocked. Appellant was screaming at her while the children watched him physically punch her body with closed fists. At one point, Appellant put both hands around her neck. [ ] Rodriguez attempted to get her crying . . . twins, but ended up falling with them due to what she believed to be a broken leg. [ ] Rodriguez attempted to leave the situation however she had a hurt leg and was holding one twin in each arm. While [Rodriguez was] sitting against a wall with her twins, Appellant used both hands around her neck until [ ] Rodriguez had difficulty breathing, became lightheaded, and had blurred vision. [ ] Rodriguez was not able to get to a cell phone to call for help because it was broken during the fight. Appellant, knowing that [Rodriguez] was pregnant, continued to kick her along her stomach area.

Still angry, Appellant left [ ] Rodriguez’[s] mother’s home as the sun came up. [Rodriguez’s mother] came home later in the day and took [ ] Rodriguez and her children to Harrisburg Hospital.

On September 9, 2017, Officer Matthew Gallup was . . . dispatched to Harrisburg Hospital for a report of an assault [and was then] directed to [ ] Rodriguez’[s] hospital room. . . . Rodriguez indicated that she had been assaulted. Officer Gallup observed physical injuries on her face, including a swollen right eye, redness down her cheek, and scratches on her left eye, cheek area, and neck. She also complained of knee and side pain. [Rodriguez, who was pregnant,] also indicated to Officer Gallup that she had been kicked or assaulted in her stomach area. [She] completed a domestic violence statement form[, as well as] a strangulation questionnaire. [Both forms were] in the victim’s

-2- J-S51034-20

own handwriting and in [her] own words. [ ] Rodriguez told Officer Gallup that Appellant . . . was the one who assaulted her and her children.

Officer Gallup observed [ ] Rodriguez’[s] . . . twins at the hospital. The male twin had a large lump on his forehead with an abrasion as well as a cut on the other side of his face and on his eyebrow. The female twin had a small cut or laceration on the top of her heard towards the back of her head and side of her hair. [A] forensics officer[ ] came to the [hospital] to take photos of the twins and [ ] Rodriguez in the presence of Officer Gallup.

* * *

. . . [N]urse Faith Dreibelbis was working . . . as a triage nurse [when Rodriguez and her children arrived] at the hospital at approximately 6:45 in the evening [on September 9, 2017.] Rodriguez told [Nurse] Dreibelbis that she had been assaulted. [ ] Rodriguez received an X-ray of her knee[ and] her spine, as well as an ultrasound. [Nurse] Dreibelbis observed a laceration above the eyebrow and alon[g] the right hairline of the male twin, and a laceration on the scalp of the female twin. [Nurse] Dreibelbis also observed redness and scratches along the male twin’s back that were not depicted in photographs.

[Nurse] Dreibelbis contacted YWCA upon request of [ ] Rodriguez and a representative came to be with her when she was in the emergency department. She also contacted Harrisburg Police Department, which is typical practice when patients report that they have been assaulted. [Rodriguez] was discharged from the hospital around 1:00 a.m. on September 10. 2017. The children were discharged at 10:46 p.m. on September 9, 2017.

Trial Ct. Op. at 2-4 (record citations and footnotes omitted).

A criminal complaint was filed against Appellant on September 10, 2017.

Appellant was subsequently charged with aggravated assault (three counts),

aggravated assault of unborn child, strangulation, endangering the welfare of

-3- J-S51034-20

a child (two counts), and corruption of minors.3 See Appellant’s Information,

12/19/17, at 1-2 (unpaginated). More than two years later, on October 17,

2019, Appellant filed a motion to dismiss the charges based on a violation of

Pa.R.Crim.P. 600.4 The case proceeded to a jury trial commencing on October

21, 2019. Prior to the start of testimony, the trial court heard argument on

Appellant’s Rule 600 motion, and denied it. See N.T., 10/21/19, at 5-7.

At trial, Appellant testified in his own defense, and denied he committed

the assault on Rodriguez and the twins. He claimed he was not at Rodriguez’s

mother’s apartment on the night of the incident, and that his relationship with

Rodriquez had ended in early July 2017. See N.T., 10/21/19, at 124.

Appellant claimed that on the evening of September 8, 2017, he was at the

Hollywood Casino with a friend until midnight. Id. at 127-28. They then

returned to his friend’s apartment, where he had been staying.5 Id. at 128.

Appellant testified they talked for “a couple hours,” and went to sleep around

2:00 a.m. on September 9th. Id. at 129. He claimed that Rodriguez’s mother

called him around 2:00 p.m. that afternoon, which was the first time he

learned of the allegations. Id. at 130. Appellant denied ever harming

3 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 2702(a)(1), (8), 2606(a), 2718(a)(1), 4304(a)(1), and 6301(a)(1)(i), respectively.

4As will be discussed infra, Rule 600 requires the Commonwealth to try a defendant within 365 days of the date the complaint is filed. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 600(A)(2)(a).

5 Appellant also stated his car was “broken” at the time, so his friend drove them to the casino and back home. N.T., 10/21/19, at 128-29.

-4- J-S51034-20

Rodriguez or their children, and testified he had last seen Rodriguez on

September 2, 2017. Id. at 131-32.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Alceus, F., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-alceus-f-pasuperct-2021.