Com. v. Melnick, L.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 17, 2024
Docket1157 MDA 2023
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Melnick, L. (Com. v. Melnick, 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. Melnick, L., (Pa. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

J-A11004-24

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : LINDSEY ANN MELNICK : : Appellant : No. 1157 MDA 2023

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered July 21, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Perry County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-50-CR-0000061-2022

BEFORE: BOWES, J., STABILE, J., and MURRAY, J.

MEMORANDUM BY BOWES, J.: FILED: JULY 17, 2024

Lindsey Ann Melnick appeals from the aggregate judgment of sentence

of six to twelve years of imprisonment imposed for her convictions of statutory

sexual assault, aggravated indecent assault—complainant less than sixteen,

unlawful contact with a minor, institutional sexual assault, and corruption of

minors. We affirm.

The trial court aptly summarized the evidence offered at Appellant’s jury

trial as follows:

At trial, the victim, A.H. testified that, between August 1, 2011, and November 25, 2012, [Appellant] engaged in sexual conduct with her on numerous occasions, when she was only fourteen and fifteen years old. At the time the inappropriate relationship began, Appellant was approximately twenty-five years of age, and one of the teachers’ aides, and girls’ soccer coaches for A.H.’s middle school, as well as a camp counselor for A.H.’s church camp. During their time at church camp, . . . Appellant would sneak into A.H.’s bunk, or have A.H. sneak into J-A11004-24

her bunk, and Appellant would perform sexual acts such as groping, kissing and digital penetration.

A.H. testified that after church camp, the encounters with Appellant became more frequent and more sexual, as Appellant would drive A.H. home from school, soccer practice, and church events. Appellant would also text A.H. at times to arrange to pick A.H. up, and drive her to a pull-off on Pine Hill Road, Perry County, where Appellant would park the vehicle, perform oral sex on A.H., and have A.H. perform oral sex on her.

[A.H.]’s mother T.S., was aware of an inappropriate1 relationship between the [Appellant] and her daughter, and attempted to end all communication and contact between the two. T.S. and her husband found inappropriate messages and contact between Appellant and A.H. on A.H.’s cellphone and a Facebook account, where Appellant used the pseudo[nym] Sophia Martin, to communicate with A.H. T.S. went on to explain an instance where Appellant came to their home, unwelcomed, and tried to give A.H. a birthday present. During this incident, T.S. met with Appellant and told her not to come back to their home or contact their family ever again. T.S. also testified about the details and layout of her property and home. The victim testified that after her parents discovered the inappropriate teacher/student relationship, the sexual contact between Appellant and A.H. took place on several occasions after Appellant snuck into A.H.’s parents’ home and hid under A.H.’s bed. ______ 1 A.H.’s parents became aware of an inappropriate

relationship between A.H. and Appellant. However, they were unaware of the sexual nature of said relationship at the time the offenses were being committed.

[Appellant] pointed out inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony, and presented the testimony of multiple individuals who testified that [Appellant] was a person of good character who was law abiding. These individuals spoke about [Appellant]’s ties to her community and her religious organizations. [Appellant] also introduced video evidence and a posterboard showing the general layout of the very rural area surrounding A.H.’s home, where many of the assaults took place, the driveway to the home, and the road and general area leading to the home in an attempt

-2- J-A11004-24

to convince the jury [that Appellant] could not have snuck into the home as the complainant stated.

Trial Court Opinion, 10/24/23, at 2-4 (cleaned up, unnecessary articles

omitted).

The jury found Appellant guilty of the above-referenced offenses, and

she was sentenced on March 15, 2023, following a pre-sentence investigation

(“PSI”). Appellant filed a timely post-sentence motion that the trial court

granted in part and denied in part. Specifically, while the trial court declined

to disturb her convictions or the term of her incarceration, it granted a new

sentencing hearing as to her sexual offender registration requirements.

Appellant’s new sentencing was completed on July 21, 2023, and this timely

appeal followed. The trial court ordered Appellant to file a Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b)

statement and she timely complied, after which the trial court authored a Rule

1925(a) opinion.

Appellant presents the following questions for our determination:

A. Whether the trial court palpably abused its discretion by denying [Appellant]’s request for a new trial where the verdict was against the weight of, and so contrary to, the evidence as to shock one’s sense of justice, thus requiring that a new trial be granted?

B. Whether the pretrial decision to deny [Appellant]’s request for a view constituted an abuse of discretion, an error of law, and so impeded [Appellant]’s defense as to constitute a violation of [her] right to a fair trial, to present a complete defense, and to due process of law, as guaranteed by the Fifth, Sixth[,] and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, and Article 1, §§ 1 and 9 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, thus requiring that [Appellant] be granted a new trial?

-3- J-A11004-24

C. Where the sentencing court: (a) failed to consider the character of [Appellant]; (b) failed to assess issues relevant to individualized sentencing; (c) failed to assess those factors set forth in the Sentencing Code required to be considered when determining the nature of the sentence to be imposed; (d) focused solely on the nature of the offenses; and (e) imposed an unreasonable and manifestly excessive sentence, should [Appellant]’s sentence be vacated and the matter remanded for re-sentencing?

Appellant’s brief at 8-9 (cleaned up).

Appellant first asserts that the trial court abused its discretion in denying

her challenge to the weight of the evidence. The following principles apply to

our consideration of that claim:

A motion for a new trial based on a claim that the verdict is against the weight of the evidence is addressed to the discretion of the trial court. A new trial should not be granted because of a mere conflict in the testimony or because the judge on the same facts would have arrived at a different conclusion. Rather, the role of the trial judge is to determine that notwithstanding all the facts, certain facts are so clearly of greater weight that to ignore them or to give them equal weight with all the facts is to deny justice.

An appellate court’s standard of review when presented with a weight of the evidence claim is distinct from the standard of review applied by the trial court. Appellate review of a weight claim is a review of the exercise of discretion, not of the underlying question of whether the verdict is against the weight of the evidence.

Commonwealth v. Arias, 286 A.3d 341, 352 (Pa.Super. 2022) (cleaned up).

Thus, our task is to determine whether the trial court, in ruling on Appellant’s

weight challenge, “abused its discretion by reaching a manifestly

unreasonable judgment, misapplying the law, or basing its decision on

partiality, prejudice, bias, or ill-will.” Commonwealth v. Clay, 64 A.3d 1049,

1056 (Pa. 2013) (cleaned up).

-4- J-A11004-24

The trial court explained its denial of Appellant’s weight claim as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Melnick, L., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-melnick-l-pasuperct-2024.