Com. v. Harding, J.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided August 2, 2017·No. Com. v. Harding, J. No. 1373 MDA 2016·Unpublished

Opinion

J-S33043-17

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION – SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA Appellee : : v. : : JOSHUA MOSHA HARDING, : : Appellant : No. 1373 MDA 2016

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence April 29, 2016 in the Court of Common Pleas of York County, Criminal Division, at No(s): CP-67-CR-0007614-2013

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., OTT, and STRASSBURGER,* JJ.

MEMORANDUM BY STRASSBURGER, J.: FILED AUGUST 02, 2017

Joshua Mosha Harding (Appellant) appeals from his April 29, 2016

aggregate judgment of sentence of four to eight years of imprisonment after

he was found guilty of possession with the intent to deliver a controlled

substance, aggravated assault, escape, and simple assault. Counsel has

filed a petition to withdraw and a brief pursuant to Anders v. California,

386 U.S. 738 (1967). We deny counsel’s motion to withdraw and remand

for counsel to file an advocate’s brief.

The trial court summarized the evidence offered at trial as follows.

The Commonwealth presented five (5) witnesses at trial, who are Trooper James O’Shea (“O’Shea”), Officer Matthew Kile (“Kile”), Trooper Jeffrey Gotwals (“Gotwals”), Detective Craig Fenstermacher (“Fenstermacher”) and Ms. Holly Urban (“Urban”).

*Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court. J-S33043-17

On September 23, 2013, [] O’Shea and [] Kile went to the upstairs apartment of 312 East Middle Street, Hanover, Pennsylvania (“the residence”) with arrest warrants for Joseph Weaver (“Weaver”) and Urban for delivery of controlled substances, including heroin and [the prescription opioid] Opana. Both O’Shea and Kile wore their tactical vests to the residence, and O’Shea’s vest included the words “State Police” on the front. Similarly, Kile’s vest had the words “police” on the front of the vest. Prior to that date, O’Shea had worked undercover, where [he] had made drug purchases outside the residence and in the residence’s kitchen.

Earlier that day on September 23, Appellant went to the residence, wearing a dark blue jacket, and Urban confirmed that Exhibits 30 and 21 were pictures of the same jacket Appellant wore (“the jacket”). Appellant went to the residence because Urban owed him money, partially for drugs. After arriving, Appellant took off the jacket and placed it on the back of a chair. Urban testified that Weaver, who was her boyfriend at the time the incident occurred, did not own that jacket or a similar one and that the jacket would not fit Weaver since it would be too big for Weaver.

Urban saw what she described as drugs in Appellant’s hand in her kitchen. When asked which one it was, Urban identified a bag in Exhibit 28, that Defense Counsel pointed out was “the one with rice in it,” [t]hough, on September 23, Urban believed it was heroin “because she tried to inject it” around 5:00 p.m. and because [Appellant] had told her the baggy contained heroin, though she did not feel high after injecting it. She was not high before [Appellant] had gotten to their residence, and she stated that she had drug paraphernalia but not any other drugs in the house.

Once they arrived at the residence, O’Shea and Kile knocked on the residence’s door, where Urban, who was inside the residence, asked who they were. O’Shea stated “yo, it’s Jimmy,” and she let them inside. Once Urban opened the door, O’Shea saw Weaver sitting near the end of the table on the right side, and [Appellant] sat on the table’s left side, “with his back against the wall.” Then, O’Shea advised Urban and Weaver of the arrest warrants and that they would take them into custody. After he advised Urban and Weaver, O’Shea handcuffed Urban near the front door, and Kile attempted to put Weaver in

-2- J-S33043-17

handcuffs; however, Kile was unable to put the handcuffs on Weaver, due to Weaver’s arm being disabled.

After handcuffing Urban, O’Shea asked for Appellant’s identification and name, but Appellant said nothing. Instead, Appellant stood and walked around the table. Suspecting that “something just wasn’t right,” O’Shea informed Appellant that he was going to handcuff him for safety reasons. [] O’Shea instructed Appellant to “put his hands behind his back.” Meanwhile, Kile saw O’Shea interacting with Appellant and had heard their voices become heightened. During the trial, O’Shea testified that [Appellant] was not free to leave once O’Shea instructed Appellant about the handcuffs.

On cross-examination, O’Shea testified that he remembered the clicking of handcuffs, but he did not visually remember if he had “put one handcuff on [Appellant].” According to O’Shea on direct examination, “I remember hearing the clicking of the handcuffs, at which point [Appellant] pulled away with his right arm and swung back around and struck me in the right side of my face.”

Urban and Kile also testified about this first strike. Urban testified that she saw Appellant put his hands behind his back and saw Appellant punch Trooper O’Shea’s right side of his head. Urban says that O’Shea was hit several times, but this contradicts O’Shea’s and Kile’s testimony that it was one time.

Detective Kile also witnessed this event and provided additional testimony about this initial strike. Kile testified that before Kile could place Weaver into custody, he saw Appellant “swing -- lunge a closed fist at Trooper O’Shea.” Specifically, Kile “observed [Appellant’s] arm going towards Trooper O'Shea’s head.” When the Commonwealth asked Kile about if he had “observe[d] any part of [Appellant’s] body or anything connected to [Appellant’s] body make Contact with Trooper O’Shea,” Kile responded that “it would have been his hand hitting Trooper O’Shea's head. I saw Trooper O’Shea heading towards the ground.”

After Appellant struck O’Shea, Kile attempted to take Appellant’s “legs out from underneath him to put him onto the ground so that he could successfully be placed into custody,” but Appellant broke free of this attempt. Specifically, Kile and

-3- J-S33043-17

Appellant fell onto the kitchen table, and then onto the ground. When both stood, Appellant was free. When the Commonwealth asked about whether Appellant “kick[ed] or push[ed] or in any way tr[ied] to push off [Kile] to get away,” Kile responded that “it would have been pushing, like a wrestling match, kind of pushing me down to get up kind of thing.” [] Kile’s neck had minor scratches from the altercation. Then, Kile saw blood running down O’Shea’s head.

Urban testified that Weaver and she stood “by the doorway from the kitchen into the hallway” and at no point did they get into the fight or move toward the kitchen. Urban also stated that she and Weaver were always in the officer’s sight and in handcuffs.

After the altercation, Kile placed Weaver into custody by handcuffing him and having him sit against the wall next to Urban, and then put handcuffs on Appellant, while he was lying down. Appellant, Weaver, and Urban were removed from the residence, and at no point were Appellant, Weaver or Urban left without police supervision inside the house. It should be noted though, for thoroughness that Kile did not do a pat down of Urban or Weaver.

The evidence showed pictures of the inside of O’Shea[’s] lip, which was split open on September 23 and required three staples at the emergency room. As a result of the September 23rd events, O’Shea has suffered memory loss, including about the incident with Appellant. In fact, O’Shea did not remember being struck by [Appellant] after the initial strike.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Com. v. Harding, J., (Pa. Ct. App. 2017).

Com. v. Harding, J. (Com. v. Harding, J.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Anders v. California
386 U.S. 738 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Commonwealth v. Klein
795 A.2d 424 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2002)
Commonwealth v. Parker
847 A.2d 745 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2004)
Commonwealth v. Stewart
648 A.2d 797 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1994)
Commonwealth v. Hughes
908 A.2d 924 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2006)
Commonwealth v. Markman
916 A.2d 586 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2007)
Commonwealth v. Kirkland
831 A.2d 607 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2003)
Commonwealth v. Bennett
124 A.3d 327 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Wrecks
931 A.2d 717 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2007)
Commonwealth v. Lee
956 A.2d 1024 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2008)
Commonwealth v. Lynch
72 A.3d 706 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Holmes
79 A.3d 562 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)