Com. v. Taylor, N.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 10, 2018
Docket856 EDA 2017
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Taylor, N. (Com. v. Taylor, N.) 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. Taylor, N., (Pa. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

J-S06028-18

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : NAZEER TAYLOR : : Appellant : No. 856 EDA 2017

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence January 31, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-46-CR-0003166-2014

BEFORE: BOWES, J., McLAUGHLIN, J., and MUSMANNO, J.

MEMORANDUM BY McLAUGHLIN, J.: FILED SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

Nazeer Taylor appeals from the judgment of sentence entered following

his convictions for rape of a child and related charges. Taylor claims the trial

court erred in certifying his case to criminal court, failing to grant a mistrial,

and precluding use of psychiatric testimony regarding the victim, A.O. We

affirm.

Taylor was charged in a delinquency petition with multiple counts

stemming from the sexual abuse of his foster brother, A.O., from July 2012

through August 2013. Taylor was 15 years old at the time of the crimes, and

A.O. was 11 years old. Taylor’s date of birth is September 12, 1996, and he

is now over the age of 21. The juvenile court held a certification hearing on

April 2 and 25, 2014, to determine whether to transfer the case to criminal

court. J-S06028-18

At the hearing, A.O. testified that the abuse occurred while he and

Taylor were living with their foster mother, Gloria Parker (“Foster Mother”),

and began shortly after A.O. began the sixth grade. N.T. Certification Hearing,

4/2/14, at 9, 11-30. A.O. stated that Taylor threatened to “beat [him] up” if

he reported the abuse to anyone. Id. at 19. A.O. also testified that the

assaults caused physical damage that affected his ability to control his bowel

movements. Id. at 33.

Foster Mother testified that she observed behavioral changes in A.O.,

who “was trying to pull his tongue out of his mouth and . . . soiling his

clothing.” Id. at 79-80. Foster Mother also described a time when she

discovered Taylor and A.O. in the bathroom together. Id. at 84-85.

The Commonwealth presented the expert testimony of Michael Yoder, a

supervisor with the Montgomery County Juvenile Probation Department,

regarding amenability to treatment and the options available in the juvenile

and adult systems. N.T., 4/25/14, at 76, 78. He testified that the allegations

against Taylor were not typical of juvenile sex offender behavior, given the

degree and seriousness of the crimes, and the sophistication displayed by

Taylor in committing the crimes. Id. at 88-89. He noted that Taylor committed

the crimes “while he was in foster home placement, under the roof of the

foster parents while the foster parents were at home, [by] going into the

victim’s room and . . . into the bathroom.” Id. Taylor also committed the

assaults after having been convicted of burglary and undergoing intensive

therapy treatment. Id. at 89. Yoder explained that residential treatment for

-2- J-S06028-18

sex offenders takes a minimum of two years, and that the juvenile system

would retain jurisdiction over Taylor for only one year after his release from

such a program. Id. at 90-91. Yoder therefore opined that Taylor was not

amenable to treatment in the juvenile system. Id. at 90. Instead, Yoder

recommended the youthful offender program at the State Correction

Institution at Pine Grove. Id. at 91. Yoder testified regarding the programs

offered at Pine Grove and stated that Pine Grove “handles all youthful

offenders throughout the state” and is “designated as the facility for youthful

offenders.” Id. at 92.

Taylor presented the testimony of Dr. Nicole Machinski, an expert in the

identification and treatment of juvenile sex offenders and in the certification

of sex offenders. Id. at 9, 12. Dr. Machinski described Taylor’s family

background and his history of suffering neglect and abuse. Id. at 13-15. Dr.

Machinski diagnosed Taylor “with adjustment disorder with mixed anxiety and

depressed mood, as well as physical abuse of a child and sexual abuse of a

child.” Id. at 15. Dr. Machinski also testified regarding Taylor’s criminal history

and his previous experience and progress with therapy. Id. at 16-20. The

doctor opined that Taylor would be amenable to treatment in the juvenile

system. Id. at 27. She made this conclusion because he “had very little

opportunity to benefit from any kind of treatment provided by the juvenile

justice system thus far,” he has shown he responds well to consistent

treatment, and he expressed a willingness to participate in treatment. Id. at

27.

-3- J-S06028-18

On cross-examination, Dr. Machinski stated that she based her

testimony on her interviews with Taylor, Taylor’s counsel, and the Department

of Human Services (“DHS”) worker, and on her review of Taylor’s DHS file.

Id. at 31-32. The doctor admitted that Taylor had committed the sexual

assaults six months after he had completed an intensive therapy program. Id.

at 41-42. Dr. Machinski drew a distinction between Taylor’s previous

treatment and sex offender treatment. She noted that his prior treatment had

focused on defiance and oppositional behavior, rather than inappropriate

sexual behavior. Id. at 42. However, she agreed that a person who exhibits

antisocial behavior, such as residential burglary, would be less amenable to

treatment. Id. at 44-45.1

After the close of the evidence, the Commonwealth argued that

certification was proper because Taylor had committed a series of forcible

rapes starting when the victim was 11, which had a severe impact on the

victim. The Commonwealth further argued that having a rapist in the

community creates a danger to, and has a serious impact on, the community,

and poses a threat to public safety. The prosecution also pointed out that the

crimes were a series of violent, forcible rapes, and that Taylor was the most

culpable, as he was the rapist. See N.T., 4/25/14, at 107-12.

____________________________________________

1Taylor also presented Alda Sales-Vinson, the caseworker from DHS who had been overseeing Taylor’s case.

-4- J-S06028-18

At the conclusion of the hearing, the juvenile court determined that

Taylor should be tried as an adult and certified the case to the criminal

division. The court stated that it had considered the statutory factors and

agreed with the Commonwealth’s reasoning, including the reasoning for the

impact of the offense on the victim, the impact of the offense on the

community, the threat to the safety of the public, the nature and

circumstances of the offense, and the degree of culpability. Id. at 115.

The court also discussed the factors addressing the adequacy and

duration of treatment and amenability of Taylor to treatment, which were the

factors addressed by the experts at the hearing. The juvenile court noted that

the defense expert was inconsistent in her attempt to distinguish the prior

treatment from treatment for sexual offenders, noting that the expert argued

that the court should not find Taylor not amenable to treatment based on his

prior treatment because the prior treatment did not address sexual abuse and,

therefore, the treatments could not be compared, but also argued that Taylor

is amenable to sexual offender treatment because he did well in prior

treatments. Id. at 112-13.

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