Com. v. Stump, J.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 23, 2020
Docket205 MDA 2020
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Stump, J. (Com. v. Stump, J.) 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. Stump, J., (Pa. Ct. App. 2020).

Opinion

J-A29015-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : JOSHUA JAMES STUMP : : Appellant : No. 205 MDA 2020

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered September 18, 2019 In the Court of Common Pleas of Lebanon County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-38-CR-0000701-2018

BEFORE: DUBOW, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and COLINS, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY DUBOW, J.: FILED DECEMBER 23, 2020

Appellant Joshua James Stump appeals from the Judgment of Sentence1

imposed after a jury found him guilty of two counts of Criminal Solicitation to

Commit Sexual Abuse of Children, two counts of Criminal Solicitation-

Corruption of Minors, and one count of Terroristic Threats. 2 Appellant

challenges the weight and sufficiency of the evidence, and the court’s

application of 42 Pa.C.S. § 9718.2, the sentencing statute mandating a

____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

1 Appellant filed his appeal from the trial court’s January 10, 2020 denial of his Post-Sentence Motion. However, the appeal properly lies from the Judgment of Sentence imposed on September 18, 2019. Commonwealth v Shamberger, 788 A.2d 408, 410 n.2 (Pa. Super. 2001) (en banc). We have corrected the caption accordingly.

2 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 902, 6312(b)(1) and (c), 6301(a)(1)(i), and 2706(a)(1), respectively. J-A29015-20

minimum term of incarceration for recidivist sexual offenders. After careful

review, we affirm.

We glean the following factual and procedural history from the certified

record, including the trial court’s opinions. In late 2017 and into early 2018,

Appellant solicited his girlfriend of seven years, L.L., to film sexual encounters

with her then-14-year-old twin sons, M.L. and R.L., in addition to two

unrelated boys, “to prove you are not cheating on me.” Tr. Ct. Op., dated

Jan. 10, 2020, at 1-2 (citing N.T.). When she refused or otherwise stalled in

fulfilling his requests, Appellant threatened to leave her, hurt her, and harm

her children. Appellant relayed many of his requests and threats via text

message to L.L. L.L.’s son, M.L., refused L.L.’s multiple requests, ran away,

and began living with his father. M.L. eventually told a friend about L.L.’s

repeated requests to film him masturbating and her request to make a sex

tape with her, and the friend’s parent alerted the police. Meanwhile, L.L. did

film her other son, R.L., who is autistic, ejaculate as he watched pornography

on his phone. She sent the video to Appellant by text and also watched it with

him.

On January 28, 2018, just after midnight, R.L. called 911 to report that

L.L. had threatened to commit suicide. When Pennsylvania State Police

(“PSP”) patrol officers arrived at L.L.’s home, she told the officers about her

relationship with Appellant, his requests for the child sex videos, and his

threats to leave and/or harm her. She further explained that, over the past

12 hours, she had been arguing with Appellant through text messages and

-2- J-A29015-20

phone calls about her refusal to tape herself engaging in sexual acts with her

children and their friends. While she was speaking with the officers, Appellant

called her phone to find out why she had called 911. L.L. handed the phone

to the police officer who confirmed that he was speaking with Appellant.

Appellant told the officer that he monitors L.L.’s cell phone usage online and

saw a 911 call logged in. Before the officer left, he showed L.L. how to save

screen shots of text messages and asked her to save them, and provide them,

for police investigation.

After a thorough investigation, which included forensic interviews with

L.L.’s two sons and the two unrelated boys at the Lebanon Children’s Resource

Center (“CRC”), the Commonwealth charged Appellant with 11 criminal

offenses.3

At Appellant’s jury trial on May 23, 2019, L.L., several CRC personnel,

and the PSP investigators testified for the Commonwealth. Relevant to this

appeal, L.L. testified regarding, among other things, Appellant’s numerous

requests for her to record videos of the children engaged in sex acts with

themselves and with her. She stated that she feared if she did not comply,

that Appellant would leave her. L.L. also testified that Appellant threatened

physical violence towards her and her children if she did not make and share

the videos with him. The Commonwealth authenticated a printout of the

3 The Commonwealth charged L.L. separately. She is not a party to this appeal.

-3- J-A29015-20

screen shots of text messages that L.L. provided to the PSP, and the trial court

admitted the exhibit. The admitted text messages between Appellant and L.L.

corroborated L.L.’s testimony that Appellant had repeatedly asked her to make

and share explicit videos of child pornography.

Violet Witter, a forensic child interviewer with the CRC, testified that she

interviewed M.L. The court admitted the video recording of that interview and

Ms. Witter’s written report. In addition, Shannon Cossaboom, the CRC

supervisor and also a forensic child interviewer, testified that she interviewed

R.L., and the court admitted the recording of that video and Ms. Cossaboom’s

summary report. By agreement between the parties, the Commonwealth

played portions of both boys’ interviews for the jury.

PSP Trooper Justin Prevost testified regarding his responding to R.L.’s

911 call, and his discussions with L.L and Appellant that occurred on January

28, 2018. Trooper Prevost also testified that he taught L.L. how to take screen

shots of texts to save them; two days later, he retrieved a memory device

from her and printed out the screen shots.

PSP Criminal Investigator Matthew Templin also testified regarding his

investigation, which involved speaking with Appellant.

Both M.L. and R.L. testified at trial that they had told the truth during

their CRC interviews. The parties stipulated that the CRC interviews would

serve as the bulk of their testimony. In addition, M.L. testified that he stopped

living with his mother after her request that he make a sex tape with her, and

-4- J-A29015-20

that he told many friends about the request. R.L. testified that he called 911

on January 28, 2018, after his mom and Appellant had been fighting.

The Commonwealth did not present testimony from the unrelated boys

with whom Appellant had implored L.L. to engage in filmed sexual acts. The

parties stipulated that the unrelated boys would testify as to their birthdates.

After instructing the jury and receiving no objections to the instructions

from counsel, deliberations proceeded. The jury acquitted Appellant of six

offenses that pertained to the unrelated boys, and found him guilty of the five

charges set forth above. The court ordered an evaluation with the Sexual

Offenders Assessment Board (SOAB)4 and a Pre-Sentence Investigation.

On September 18, 2019, the court imposed an aggregate sentence of

26-55 years’ incarceration.5 Appellant filed a Post-Sentence Motion, which the

court denied by Order and Opinion on January 10, 2020.

4 Appellant stipulated that he had been convicted in 2015 for sexual offenses involving his minor daughter.

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