Com. v. Lenhart, R.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 30, 2026
Docket708 MDA 2025
StatusUnpublished
AuthorBeck

This text of Com. v. Lenhart, R. (Com. v. Lenhart, R.) 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. Lenhart, R., (Pa. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

J-A11012-26

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : RICHARD SCOTT LENHART : : Appellant : No. 708 MDA 2025 :

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered March 3, 2025 In the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-14-CR-0000610-2021

BEFORE: BECK, J., NEUMAN, J., and BENDER, P.J.E.

MEMORANDUM BY BECK, J.: FILED JUNE 30, 2026

Richard Scott Lenhart (“Lenhart”) appeals from the judgment of

sentence entered by the Centre County Court of Common Pleas (“trial court”)

after a jury convicted him of rape of a child, statutory sexual assault,

involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child, sexual assault, indecent

assault – complainant less than thirteen years of age, endangering the welfare

of children, and corruption of minors.1 On appeal, Lenhart argues that the

jury’s verdict was against the weight of the evidence and also raises several

evidentiary claims. Because we conclude that each issue Lenhart raises on

appeal lacks merit or is waived, we affirm.

____________________________________________

1 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 3121(c), 3122.1(b), 3123(b), 3124.1, 3126(a)(7), 4304(a), 6301(a)(1)(ii). J-A11012-26

The trial court summarized the facts and procedural history of this case

as follows:

In May 2018, the victim’s mother contacted law enforcement, reporting that her daughter (the victim) disclosed sexual abuse by her father ([Lenhart]) during counseling sessions. However, the mother reported that the victim was still unable to talk about the abuse. In July 2019, the victim contacted the State College Police, reported sexual abuse, and indicated that she was ready to file a police report. On March 17, 2020, the victim met with Special Agent Christopher Weaver with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General and Detective Craig Ripka with the State College Police Department. Over a two-day period, the victim reported extensive sexual abuse by her father. The victim was 22 years old at the time of her report and relayed that most of the sexual abuse occurred in her childhood home.

At trial, the victim (then age 27) recalled inappropriate sexual touching and grooming-type behavior by [Lenhart] from a very young age. She testified that:

We would watch pornography sometimes, and then we would also – we would have -- there would be touching involved, some finger penetration, and I mean, I guess it kind of started then, but it wasn’t as apparent to me because I was younger. But kind of like what we would see, sometimes certain elements of what we saw is kind of what he would, I guess, I don’t know if explore is the best word, but kind of explore with me during that time. That would be prior to age eight.

N.T., 8/28/2024, at 62-63. The victim explained finger penetration meant [he inserted] his finger into her vagina. Id. at 63. …

The victim testified that she feels “like a lot of the events that occurred were associated with a date or a holiday or something that was significant to either him or I.” Id. at 49. When she was approximately 8 years old, [Lenhart] had sexual intercourse with the victim for the first time. The victim knew the exact date of the incident—April 16, 2006—because it took place the day of Easter and [Lenhart]’s birthday. Id. at 58. [Lenhart]

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entered the victim’s bedroom after she had been asleep. The victim recalled being woken up by [Lenhart] and then being subject to sexual intercourse, which she clarified was [Lenhart] putting his penis into her vagina. When asked to describe the incident, she testified “I don’t remember a lot from that incident, mostly because I was eight. I know that I was in pain, and I know that there was -- he was trying to put his penis inside of my vagina and that there was touching involved and finger penetration involved, and that’s kind of all I remember from that.” Id. at 59.

The victim recalled another incident that occurred close to her 10th birthday. The victim recalled [Lenhart] coming into her room, getting into bed with her, getting on top of her and having sexual intercourse with her. “And then -- but when we were in the bedroom, he had kind of woken me up, and I remember staring at the glow in the dark of the stars on the ceiling.” Id. at 51. “So there was intercourse. That was like the first real one that I remembered, more so intercourse with his penis being in my vagina. I remember when he was finished there was some blood on the sheets.” Id. The victim remembered [Lenhart] telling her to be quiet about it. Id. at 52. She testified that “it was nice enough and gentle even though it really hurt.” Id. at 53. She cried afterward “I kind of call it silent crying.” Id. at 54. When asked if [Lenhart] said anything to her about the pain, the victim responded “he told me that I would get used to it and then kind of just reiterated being quiet.” Id. at 54.

The victim testified that [Lenhart] sexually abused her between the two incidents discussed above. She described it as “intercourse with his penis in my vagina would occur, as well as touching or me touching or going down on his penis and/or him touching me on my vagina.” Id. at 66-67.

The victim recalled another incident that occurred in her parents’ newly remodeled bathroom sometime near the 10-year- old incident discussed above. Id. at 67-68. She recalled entering her parents’ bedroom with [Lenhart] and getting into the shower together. They did “different positions we had seen on the computer.” Id. at 71. …

-3- J-A11012-26

Trial Court Opinion, 8/12/2025, at 2-5 (record citations modified;

typographical errors corrected). The victim further testified to numerous other

incidents of sexual abuse that occurred over the course of her childhood.

On August 30, 2024, following trial, the jury found Lenhart guilty of the

above-referenced crimes. On December 18, 2024, the trial court sentenced

Lenhart to an aggregate term of twenty to forty years in prison. Lenhart filed

timely post-sentence motions. On March 3, 2025, the trial court entered an

amended sentencing order revising the amount Lenhart owed in restitution.

The trial court subsequently denied Lenhart’s post-sentence motions in all

other respects. This timely appeal followed. Lenhart presents the following

issues for review:

[1.] Did the trial court abuse its discretion in arriving at a verdict that was against the weight of the evidence?

[2.] Did the trial court abuse its discretion in permitting the Commonwealth to introduce 404(b) evidence regarding [Lenhart]’s loss of his license to practice psychology?

[3.] Did the trial court abuse its discretion in permitting the Commonwealth to introduce evidence of [Lenhart]’s use of pornography?

[4.] Did the trial court abuse its discretion in denying the defense access to Children and Youth Services and mental health records of the [victim]?

Lenhart’s Brief at 6-7 (unnecessary capitalization omitted).

In his first issue, Lenhart argues that the trial court erred in failing to

conclude that the jury’s verdict was against the weight of the evidence. See

Lenhart’s Brief at 16-20. Specifically, Lenhart asserts that the verdict was

-4- J-A11012-26

against the weight of the evidence because the victim lacked credibility. See

id. Lenhart couches his credibility argument, in part, on the victim’s testimony

characterizing the first instance of sexual abuse as having occurred when she

was ten years old, but later testifying to an instance that occurred when she

was eight. Id. at 17. He also argues that the victim lacked credibility because

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Lenhart, R., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-lenhart-r-pasuperct-2026.