Com. v. Burkhart, D., Jr.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 18, 2020
Docket1916 MDA 2019
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Burkhart, D., Jr. (Com. v. Burkhart, D., Jr.) 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. Burkhart, D., Jr., (Pa. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

J-S44006-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : DONALD ANTHONY BURKHART, JR. : : Appellant : No. 1916 MDA 2019

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered August 26, 2019 In the Court of Common Pleas of Lancaster County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-36-CR-0007022-2018

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., NICHOLS, J., and McCAFFERY, J.

MEMORANDUM BY BENDER, P.J.E.: FILED NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Appellant, Donald Anthony Burkhart, Jr., appeals from the judgment of

sentence of an aggregate term of 3-7 years’ incarceration, imposed following

his conviction for two counts of terroristic threats, 18 Pa.C.S. § 2706. Herein,

Appellant challenges the trial court’s admission of hearsay testimony, its

imposition of separate sentences at each count, and the jurisdiction of the

court to order conditions on Appellant’s state parole. After careful review, we

vacate Appellant’s sentence for the misdemeanor-graded count of terroristic

threats, and vacate any portion of the sentencing order purporting to set

conditions on Appellant’s state sentence or parole beyond the minimum and

maximum terms of incarceration. We affirm Appellant’s sentence with respect

to the charge of terroristic threats graded as a felony.

The trial court summarized the relevant procedural history of this case

and the facts adduced at Appellant’s jury trial as follows: J-S44006-20

On June 7, 2019, [Appellant] was found guilty of one count each of terroristic threats graded as a felony of the third degree and terroristic threats graded as a misdemeanor of the first degree. The convictions relate to multiple threats [Appellant] made to certain staff at UPMC [Pinnacle] Lititz hospital throughout the day on November 20, 2018. [Appellant] was at the hospital that day with his partner for the delivery of his child by means of a scheduled cesarean section. [Appellant] first manifested his anger to Dr. Jill Satorie and to his partner in the operating room when he claimed a male anesthesiologist saw his partner’s “butt crack.” After the delivery, [Appellant]’s agitated demeanor continued to escalate[,] with [Appellant] and his partner continually arguing with each other, [Appellant] discouraging an examination of his partner that was recommended, threatening Dr. Satorie that his partner might kick her and hurt her if the examination were performed, [Appellant’s] asking Nurse Dana Mastromatteo when they could perform a paternity test on the baby, explaining that he wanted to know if the baby was a miracle or “something else” because [Appellant] had a vasectomy[,] and [Appellant’s] becoming agitated [and] confrontational about wanting to bring his pit bull into the hospital room.

Later, when a decision was made to move the baby to the NICU due to respiratory issues and the atmosphere in the room, [Appellant] became particularly agitated and stated that he felt like the hospital was kidnapping the baby. When a clinical nurse manager, Eliza Zeidman, came to speak with [Appellant] about the transfer of the baby, [Appellant] pointedly told her that he had previously done time in jail and was not going to go back and then he asked if she understood what he was saying. Nurse Zeidman reported the threat to her boss who she believes reported it to security. [Appellant] was overheard on two other occasions making similar statements about his time in jail over his temper to a visitor and then a house supervisor.

[Appellant]’s anger seemed to peak over hospital staff refusing to permit his partner to smoke in the room or to go outside to smoke. He threatened Dr. Satorie that if anyone laid a hand on his partner when she attempted to go outside to smoke he would become angry, punch the wall in and hurt somebody. He informed both Dr. Satorie and Nurse Mastromatteo separately when discussing the smoking issue that he was the president of a motorcycle gang and that he would have that gang come to the hospital and make things ugly[,] like he did on a prior occasion at a hospital in Williamsport. In response to this final, specific threat, Dr. Satorie

-2- J-S44006-20

and Nurse Mastromatteo contacted hospital administration[,] which resulted in security and police being contacted and responding. Due to the nature of the threats concerning the motorcycle gang, a decision was made to put the hospital into a lockdown situation.[1] [Appellant] was arrested and the hospital remained in lockdown from approximately 6:00 p.m. on November 20, 201[8,] until sometime between 6:30 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. on November 21, 201[8].

After completion of a [pre-sentence investigation report], [Appellant] was sentenced on August 26, 2019 to three to seven years of incarceration on the felony count of terroristic threats and a concurrent one to five years of incarceration on the misdemeanor count of terroristic threats. [Appellant] filed a post- sentence motion on September 4, 2019, which was denied by Order dated October 25, 2019. [Appellant] filed a [timely] notice of appeal on November 22, 2019.

Trial Court Opinion (“TCO”), 1/21/20, at 1-4 (footnotes omitted).

Appellant filed a timely, court-ordered Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement, and

the trial court issued its Rule 1925(a) opinion on January 21, 2020. Appellant

now presents the following questions for our review:

I. Did the trial court err in admitting significant hearsay testimony regarding [Appellant’s] alleged statements, under the guise of explaining Jeffrey Hatfield’s course of conduct, where the testimony was extremely prejudicial, there was great risk that the jury would accept the testimony for its truth, and the jury was not given a limiting instruction regarding the use of said testimony?

II. Did the trial court err in imposing separate sentences for Count 3, terroristic threats, graded as a first-degree misdemeanor, and Count 1, terroristic threats, graded as a third-degree felony, where the two offenses charged a violation of 18 Pa.C.S. § 2706(a)(1), both charges addressed identical conduct, and the sole difference was the additional element resulting in felony three grading, as set forth in 18 Pa.C.S. § 2706(c), for causing the

____________________________________________

1The decision to lock down the hospital was made by the Security Supervisor at UPMC Pinnacle Lititz, Jeffrey Hatfield.

-3- J-S44006-20

occupants of the building to be diverted from their normal or customary operations?

III. Did the trial court err in imposing a condition of no contact with the victims and in banning [Appellant] from UPMC Pinnacle [Lititz], where the court had no jurisdiction to impose such conditions, which are the province of Pennsylvania Probation and Parole?

Appellant’s Brief at 6-7.

Hearsay

In his first claim, Appellant alleges that the trial court erred when it

admitted hearsay through the testimony of Jeffrey Hatfield. As explained by

Appellant,

Jeffrey Hatfield, a security supervisor for UPMC Pinnacle for a region including UPMC Pinnacle’s Lititz hospital, testified that at 4:26 p.m. he was notified of a potential security situation at the hospital. [N.T., 6/7/19-6/9/19, at] 230. As Mr. Hatfield began describing what he had been told about the situation, defense counsel objected that what he had been told was hearsay. [Id. at] 231. The [prosecutor] argued that what he had been told went to his course of conduct. [Id.] The court overruled the objection after a sidebar discussion. [Id.] Mr. Hatfield then testified that Dave Schmidt, the chief nursing officer for the Lititz hospital, told him that [Appellant] was harassing the staff and making threats. [Id. at] 231-[]32.

The [prosecutor] asked Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Burkhart, D., Jr., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-burkhart-d-jr-pasuperct-2020.