Com. v. Cooke, A.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedApril 12, 2021
Docket682 MDA 2020
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Cooke, A. (Com. v. Cooke, A.) 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. Cooke, A., (Pa. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

J-A29029-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : ANTWAN M. COOKE : : Appellant : No. 682 MDA 2020

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered February 12, 2020, in the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, Criminal Division at No(s): CP-22-CR-0000975-2019.

BEFORE: DUBOW, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and COLINS, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY KUNSELMAN, J.: FILED APRIL 12, 2021

Antwan M. Cooke appeals from the judgment of sentence imposed after

a jury convicted him of aggravated assault – attempt to cause serious bodily

injury.1 After review, we affirm.

Trial court’s Rule 1925(a) opinion thoroughly addressed the factual

background:

On January 25, 2019, Officer Michael Elezovic of the Lower Paxton Township Police Department was dispatched to [the complainant’s address] for a domestic call. Upon arriving, he spoke with the [complainant] who showed him where the incident occurred inside the house. Officer Elezovic noted that the bedroom and bathroom, where the incident occurred, were in disarray. He further noted that the ____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

118 Pa.C.S.A. § 2702(a)(1). The trial court also found Cooke guilty for the summary offense of criminal mischief. 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3304(a)(3). J-A29029-20

[complainant] had brush burns on her right triceps, a cigarette burn on her right bicep, and red marks on her chest. He did not see any bruising, but noted that bruising typically occurs a couple days later.

The [complainant] testified that she and [Cooke] were in a relationship for approximately 5 years. On or about August 23, 2018, [Cooke] moved into her home. [Cooke] lived with the [complainant] on and off for approximately 5 months.

On January 25, 2019, the [complainant] drove [Cooke] to an appointment in Mechanicsburg, and then returned to the [complainant’s] home to get ready for her son’s basketball tournament. According to the [complainant], [Cooke’s] iPad was on the bed when she saw someone named Ashley trying to FaceTime him. [Cooke] was downstairs at the time, so the [complainant] went downstairs and asked him who Ashley was. [Cooke] responded that it was the same Ashley he had previously told her was like a sister to him. The [complainant] went back upstairs and started getting ready in the bathroom.

The [complainant] testified that [Cooke] came upstairs, laid on the bed for a moment, and then threw his cell phone (which was under the [complainant’s] cell phone plan) stating, “I don’t even want a phone.” [Cooke] went back downstairs while the [complainant] continued getting ready. The [complainant] stated that at one point, she walked out of the bedroom and down the hallway when she encountered [Cooke] coming around the corner. [Cooke] pushed the [complainant] backwards into the door, took her phone, and went back downstairs. The [complainant] was upset and went into her bathroom and began crying. After composing herself, she went downstairs and told [Cooke] that she wanted to end the relationship. [Cooke] accepted it and planned on getting his stuff together and go to his brother’s home. The [complainant] went back upstairs to the bathroom.

The [complainant] stated “when I came back out of the bathroom this time for something, he was coming into the bathroom where he grabbed me by my throat and pushed me across the sink” while yelling [ ]. The [complainant] attempted to call 911 from her work cell phone, but [Cooke] grabbed it and tried to break it. [Cooke] went downstairs

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for a few minutes, and when he came back upstairs began packing her belongings in a garbage bag. The [complainant] yelled at him, asking why he was taking her stuff. [Cooke] spit on her, and she spit back at him. The [complainant] testified that [Cooke] dropped the bag and said “You know I have to kill you now, right?” She further testified:

He grabbed me by my neck, he pushed me on the bed, he laid his body on top of mine. While he had his hands around my neck, he climbed his body on top of me. He reached over, he grabbed the pillow, he put it over my head and he would push down; and every time he would push down, he would yell, “Dies, little bitch; dies little bitch.”

The [complainant] stated that she was unable to breath when [Cooke] had both of his hands around her neck, and it was even harder to breath when [Cooke] put a pillow over her face. She stated that she thought she would die if she did not fight back.

Fortunately, the victim was able to squirm to the end of the bed and fell on the floor. [Cooke] fell on top of her, so she grabbed his genitals and squeezed and twisted them, and then ran out of the house with her other cell phone while dialing 911. The [complainant] was on the phone with 911 as she was running through her neighbor’s yard, with no socks or shoes on, and [Cooke] chasing her. [Footnote 6]

[FN 6: The 911 recording was played for the jury and was admitted into evidence as Commonwealth’s Exhibit 13.]

At some point, she heard [Cooke] on the phone behind her saying “Bro, make sure something happens to this fucking bitch.”

After Officer Elezovic arrived, several photographs were taken of the [complainant’s] injuries. The photographs were admitted into evidence at Commonwealth’s Exhibit 5-12. The photographs show that at some point the [complainant] urinated herself, had brush burns on her right shoulder and arm, some scratches around her neck, a cigarette burn on her arm, and some scratching and early stages of bruising

-3- J-A29029-20

on her back. There were also 2 photographs admitted and shown to the jury which were taken 4 days after the incident and the bruising was more prominent. The bruising apparently lasted 10-12 days and that her voice was [hoarse] for about a week or so.

After [Cooke] was arrested, he called the [complainant] several times from Dauphin County Prison, as well as sent her a letter dated February 7, 2019. The letter was admitted into evidence and read on the record. In the letter, [Cooke] asked the [complainant] to change her story when she testified and to say that they were both drinking so it would appear to be a mutual scuffle.

On cross-examination, it was revealed that the [complainant] and [Cooke’s] “long-distance relationship” was because [Cooke] was incarcerated. The [complainant] knew she was not the only woman in [Cooke’s] life, but knew [Cooke] wanted to live with her as part of his release plan. After [Cooke] was incarcerated on the instant charges, he made approximately 19 calls to the [complainant] between February 5 [through] 14, 2019. The two spent approximately 15 minutes on the phone each call, and the [complainant] put money on her phone so [Cook] could call her. Each time, the two ended the phone call by saying “I love you.” On February 6, 2019, during a phone call, the [complainant] told [Cooke] that she was severely depressed and stated something along the lines of wanting to jump off a bridge. [Cooke] wrote the aforementioned letter the next day.

[Cooke] testified on his own behalf at trial. His version of events was substantially similar to the [complainant’s] testimony. [Cooke] added that while he was packing up his PlayStation, the [complainant] swung at him, and when he stepped back she spit on him. “I wipe the spit off my face and I go back to messing with the PlayStation. Now I’m really done. I’m mad. I’m mad. I’m mad at the fact I just got spit on and stuff like that.” [Emphasis added by the trial court.] [Cooke] testified that the victim swung at him again and this time connected. Notably, [Cooke] testified:

So when she hit me…I didn’t really care, but then she spit on me again, like spit on me.

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Com. v. Cooke, A., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-cooke-a-pasuperct-2021.