Com. v. Moyer, B.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJuly 12, 2017
DocketCom. v. Moyer, B. No. 1729 MDA 2016
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Moyer, B. (Com. v. Moyer, B.) 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. Moyer, B., (Pa. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

J-S33042-17

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION – SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA Appellee : : v. : : BRAD ALLEN MOYER, : : Appellant : No. 1729 MDA 2016

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence October 12, 2016 in the Court of Common Pleas of Schuykill County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-54-CR-0001340-2015

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

MEMORANDUM BY STRASSBURGER, J.: FILED JULY 12, 2017

Brad Allen Moyer (Appellant) appeals from the judgment of sentence

imposed on October 12, 2016, after a jury found him guilty of two counts

each of aggravated assault by attempting to cause serious bodily injury,

aggravated assault by attempting to cause serious bodily injury with a

deadly weapon, simple assault, and recklessly endangering another person

(REAP).1 We affirm.

The events giving rise to the aforementioned charges began the

evening of May 28, 2015. Appellant was residing with his parents, Wendy

Moyer and Nevin Randy Moyer (Randy). Appellant came home early from

work that evening because he was having “[m]ajor back problems” while

working at his job. N.T., 4/7/2016, at 25. According to Wendy, when

1 The trial court also found Appellant guilty of criminal mischief as a summary offense.

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court. J-S33042-17

Appellant came home, he appeared “confused, frustrated, [and] in pain.” Id.

at 26. Additionally, “[h]is balance and all was off.” Id. Wendy “wasn’t

capable of driving” Appellant to the hospital and also could not reach Randy,

so she waited until Randy came home. Id. at 27. Wendy felt that Appellant

“[w]anted [her] to allow him to just stay at the house and die.” Id. at 28.

Randy arrived home around 10:00 p.m. that night, and Wendy told Randy

that Appellant “had consumed a bottle of approximately 250 Tylenol.” Id. at

34. Before calling 911, Randy went outside to write down Appellant’s license

plate number, and while Randy was doing that, Appellant went outside and

shoved Randy from behind. Randy went back into the house, reached for

the phone, and Appellant struck Randy again. When Randy fell, Appellant

continued hitting him. Randy called 911, and Appellant left the home.

Pennsylvania State Police Troopers Robert O’Connor and Matthew

Barrett were dispatched to the Moyer residence and arrived around 11:00

p.m. Upon arrival, they spoke with both Wendy and Randy, who informed

the troopers about the aforementioned domestic incident. They also

indicated that Appellant was suicidal. The troopers then decided to canvass

the area around the home and put a broadcast throughout the county for

Appellant’s vehicle, a white Chevrolet Malibu.

Eventually, when the troopers were driving in the right lane on

Ringtown Road, they observed a car driving at a high rate of speed toward

them. According to Trooper O’Connor, the car’s headlights were hitting him

-2- J-S33042-17

“square in the eyes” which indicated to him that the oncoming car was

coming directly toward them and “escape route” was necessary to avoid a

collision. Id. at 57. Trooper O’Connor then “cut the wheel hard” and drove

off the right side of the road. Id. The oncoming vehicle, later identified as

Appellant’s vehicle with Appellant driving, collided with the police vehicle

behind the driver’s side door. Trooper O’Connor testified that he “felt like

there was an attempt at [his] life at that time.” Id. at 60.

The troopers exited their vehicle and followed the debris field until

they found Appellant. They attempted to take him into custody. Appellant

was “[n]ot compliant, verbally resistant, cursing at [the troopers], [and]

calling [them] names.” Id. at 64. Eventually, Appellant was handcuffed, and

they waited for backup to arrive. Appellant and the troopers went to the

hospital to assess their injuries. Both troopers suffered abrasions and

bruises due to the crash.

As a result of this series of incidents, Appellant was arrested. A jury

trial was held on April 7, 2016, and Appellant was convicted of the

aforementioned crimes.2 On May 17, 2016, Appellant was sentenced to an

aggregate term of 9 to 22 years of incarceration. This sentence included

consecutive four-to-ten-year sentences for aggravated assault by attempting

to cause serious bodily injury and consecutive six-to-12 month sentences for

REAP. The trial court determined that the two counts each for aggravated

2 The jury was hung on two counts of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

-3- J-S33042-17

assault by attempting to cause serious bodily injury with a deadly weapon

and simple assault merged for the purposes of sentencing.

Appellant filed a post-sentence motion, which was granted in part.

Specifically, the trial court vacated Appellant’s judgment of sentence

because the “sentence for the two aggravated assault charges was improper

pursuant to 18 Pa.C.S. [] § 906, which prohibits a criminal defendant from

being convicted of more than one inchoate crime for conduct designed to

culminate in the commission of the same crime.” Trial Court Opinion,

8/4/2016, at 2 (internal quotations omitted).

The statute provides that “[a] person may not be convicted of more

than one of the inchoate crimes of criminal attempt, criminal solicitation or

criminal conspiracy for conduct designed to commit or to culminate in the

commission of the same crime.” 18 Pa.C.S. § 906. Despite the clear

statutory language, the prohibition against multiple convictions has been

interpreted as a prohibition against multiple judgments of sentence. See

Commonwealth v. Kingston, 143 A.3d 917, 922 n.3 (Pa. 2016)

(“Although Section 906 bars ‘multiple convictions,’ the Superior Court has

held, and we have assumed without deciding, that the statute proscribes

multiple judgments of sentence.”).

On August 15, 2016, Appellant was resentenced. The Commonwealth

filed a post-sentence motion based upon the decision of our Supreme Court

in Kingston, filed on August 15, 2016, which interpreted section 906. To

-4- J-S33042-17

understand the issue in Kingston, the Supreme Court offered the following

helpful illustration. “[S]uppose that Dan, with the requisite criminal intent,

asks Abe to commit a robbery. Abe agrees and takes a substantial step

toward the commission of the robbery. Dan has committed three inchoate

crimes. Yet, pursuant to Section 906, he may be punished for only one.”

143 A.3d at 923. The Supreme Court considered the question of “whether

‘more than one of the inchoate crimes’ refers to more than one substantive

inchoate crime only, or whether it also connotes more than one count of a

particular inchoate crime.” Id. at 924 (citing 18 Pa.C.S. § 906). The

Supreme Court offered the following:

It is not difficult to imagine why the General Assembly would proscribe multiple convictions for distinct inchoate offenses in circumstances where a defendant’s conduct was designed to culminate in the commission of a single underlying crime. Successive steps in a criminal undertaking often will constitute a criminal solicitation, a criminal conspiracy, and a criminal attempt, because all three offenses necessarily overlap.

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