Com. v. Daly, L.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 29, 2020
Docket1510 EDA 2019
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Daly, L. (Com. v. Daly, L.) 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. Daly, L., (Pa. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

J-S20022-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA Appellee

v.

LAUREN PATRICIA DALY

Appellant No. 1510 EDA 2019

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered April 17, 2019 In the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County Criminal Division at No: CP-23-CR-0003801-2013

BEFORE: SHOGAN, J., STABILE, J., and McLAUGHLIN, J.

MEMORANDUM BY STABILE, J.: FILED JULY 29, 2020

Appellant, Lauren Patricia Daly, appeals from an order denying her

petition for relief under the Post Conviction Relief Act (“PCRA”), 42 Pa.C.S.A.

§§ 9541-9546. Upon review, we affirm.

The following evidence was adduced during trial:

Prior to her arrest, [Appellant] was a pediatrician who worked for the A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1999, she met and became romantically involved with Margaret Grover, a nurse. They moved in together and decided to raise a family. [Grover] became pregnant by artificial insemination and gave birth to [E.D.] [Appellant] then adopted [E.D.] [Appellant] became pregnant by artificial insemination and gave birth to [M.D.] Grover then adopted [M.D.]

The relationship between [Appellant] and Grover was marred by violence. Each accused the other of physical assaults. After an incident in April 2011, they separated, and each child departed with his /her respective natural mother.

Each parent sought and was granted custodial time with the other’s natural child, and the arrangement was embodied in an J-S20022-20

order of the Court dated May 27, 2013. [Appellant] was also ordered to pay child support for [E.D.], who, in 2013, attended the Haverford School.

Despite the presence of an order, disputes nevertheless materialized, animosities flared and confrontations—verbal and physical—came to pass. Each introduced evidence of the other’s violent acts. Of note is Grover’s allegation that during a drop-off of [M.D.] on the evening of Mother’s Day, 2013, [Appellant] first stood in front of Grover’s car in a menacing posture and refused to move. [Appellant] then walked toward Grover and attempted to open the car door. Sensing danger, Grover drove away and, the next day, contacted her attorney. [Appellant], on the other hand, asserted that she was the victim and that Grover attempted to use the car as a lethal weapon.

The parties and their lawyers hammered out an agreement that was memorialized in a series of letters. The substance of that agreement was that all drop-offs and pickups of either child would be “curbside.” During any exchange, [Appellant], Grover and the “significant other” of each would have no contact and would remain at least 100 feet away from each other.

At trial, Grover testified that on May 27, 2013, at the end of Memorial Day weekend, she transported [M.D.] to [Appellant]’s house. As she approached, she spotted Donna Helgenberg, [Appellant]’s then current “significant other,” outside in the garden. Sensing trouble, Grover drove away, removed a phone and a can of mace from the back of the car, and drove to the front of [Appellant]’s house with [E.D.] in the front passenger’s seat and [M.D.] in the back seat. While exiting the car, [M.D.] dropped her backpack and swim suit onto the ground. Grover turned around and looked to the rear to assess the situation, but when she turned forward, she saw that [Appellant] had suddenly emerged and was standing at the front of her car. [Appellant] struck the grill of Grover’s car. She then pulled out a gun, pointed it at the windshield and shot three bullets, which struck Grover’s face, chest and abdomen. After firing the third bullet from the 9 mm automatic, the gun jammed and could fire no more without clearing the jammed bullet casing. Grover telephoned 911, reported the incident and then drove to Riddle Hospital.

The State Police responded to the scene and spoke with Donna Helgenberg. Trooper Wiley transported Donna Helgenberg and

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[M.D.] to the barracks and attempted to interview both. At the scene, other troopers spoke with [Appellant], who advised them of the location of the gun. While attempting to secure it, one Trooper noted that it was jammed, or “stove-piped,” as a ballistics expert later explained.

Troopers Kirby and O’Donnell took [Appellant] to the barracks. After being advised of her rights, [Appellant] gave a recorded statement in which she asserted that she purchased a gun to protect herself from Grover’s repeated attempts at her life. She admitted that she shot three bullets at Grover’s car, but she asserted that she did so because she was afraid that Grover was “going to try to run [her] over” and to “try to kill [her] again.” [Appellant] predicted that Grover would announce that she “won the lottery” and would look “like a victim.” [Appellant] will go to jail, and Grover will get the kids.

The State Police transported Grover’s car, a 2011 Volvo, to the barracks, where Corporal Elias and others conducted a bullet trajectory analysis. They found three bullet holes and impact sites in the car. They set up trajectory rods showing the paths of the bullets from the outside to the inside of the car. Elias then went to the scene of the incident and, after further inspection, concluded that the evidence was consistent with a five foot three inch shooter standing directly in front of the car and firing the first shot and with the same person placing her arms on the hood, leaning forward, extending her arms, and firing the next two shots. The evidence was more consistent with a static car and shooter rather than a scenario involving a moving car and/or shooter.

The police then obtained search warrants, first of [Appellant]’s person and then of her house. A strip search revealed no injuries on her person. While searching her house, they found in her belongings a document entitled “Here’s the Plan” dated March 7, 2013 that set forth an elaborate plot to alter the custody arrangements of the children.

The author, presumably [Appellant], sought to have Peg Grover “lose[] her mind” by proposing that each vacate her respective parental rights over the natural child of the other. If Grover were to refuse, then [Appellant] would commence a custody battle punctuated by “fucking” with [E.D.], encouraging that he be expelled from the Haverford School, proving that he was

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dangerous, trashing Grover’s character and proving that [M.D.] did not want to spend time with Grover. The plan contemplated a scorched earth policy in which she would hit a “mouse with [a] sledgehammer!”

...

The case proceeded to trial, during which the prosecution argued that [Appellant] intended to kill both Grover and [E.D.] In support of that, the ADA presented evidence showing that [Appellant] advised many, including school staff, that he was the “next Jeffrey Dahmer” and a future serial killer. [Appellant] rarely saw or even contacted him. [Appellant] referred to him as “Satan’s spawn” and a “nasty little boy.”

[Appellant] frequently proposed to Grover that they mutually vacate their parental rights. The prosecution argued that the attempted murder was a scheme designed to rid herself of the obligation of paying expensive private school tuition, child support and the like. Rather than follow through on the “plan” outlined in the March 7, 2013 memorandum—which would have necessitated paying large sums of money for lawyers, psychologists, teachers, and custody evaluators—[Appellant] decided to take matters into her own hands and kill Grover and [E.D.] Her self-defense argument would prevail, and she would be rid of the complications and expenses of shared custody of [M.D.], the surviving child.

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Daly, L., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-daly-l-pasuperct-2020.