Com. v. Torres, G.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 25, 2021
Docket530 MDA 2020
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Torres, G. (Com. v. Torres, G.) 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. Torres, G., (Pa. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

J-S47034-20

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION – SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT : OF PENNSYLVANIA Appellee : : v. : : GERARDO LUIS TORRES : : Appellant : No. 530 MDA 2020

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence entered February 14, 2020 in the Court of Common Pleas of Berks County Criminal Division at No: CP-06-CR-0005259-2017

BEFORE: STABILE, J., NICHOLS, J. and STRASSBURGER, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY STABILE, J.: FILED JUNE 25, 2021

Appellant, Gerardo Luis Torres, appeals from the February 14, 2020

judgment of sentence of seven to fifteen years of incarceration, followed by

five years of probation, after a jury convicted him of involuntary deviate

sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, endangering welfare of

children, and indecent assault.1 Upon review, we affirm.

The trial court provided the following background.

In 2004, Appellant… entered into his daughter, B.L.’s room, who was sixteen at the time, and proceeded to sexually assault her. Though a complaint was initially filed, the ensuing investigation did not proceed to any prosecutorial action. In 2016, during an interview with CYS[2] in an unrelated incident [involving B.L.’s

1 18 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 3123(a)(1), 3125(a)(1), 4304(a), and 3126(a)(1), respectively.

2 “CYS” refers to the Berks County Children and Youth Services.

*Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court. J-S47034-20

oldest child], B.L. recounted the allegation of sexual assault. This time, the matter was again investigated and [the above- mentioned3] charges were thereafter brought against Appellant.

Trial Court Opinion, 5/29/20, at 1.

Appellant proceeded to a jury trial from November 6-8, 2020. The

trial court thoroughly detailed the testimony and evidence presented during

the three-day jury trial as follows.

[T]he Commonwealth first called B.L. as a witness. B.L. lived with both Appellant and her mother, Bridget Torres, until she was three, when Appellant moved out of the house. Appellant moved back in with the family when B.L. was thirteen.

B.L. testified that upon Appellant’s return to the household, when she was approximately thirteen years old, Appellant would often make inappropriate comments about B.L.’s body. According to B.L. Appellant would also brag about the size of his own genitals. Appellant would ask B.L. to kiss him on the lips and, sometimes, when B.L. was going to bed, Appellant would lean over, kiss B.L. on the neck and place his tongue in her ear. On multiple occasions, when B.L. would return from seeing her boyfriend, Appellant would question B.L. if she had sex and then asked B.L. if Appellant could smell her. Appellant would proceed to smell B.L. between her legs.

When B.L. was sixteen years old, Appellant entered B.L.’s bedroom as she was going to bed and sat down on her bed. Appellant then told B.L. that he wanted to “taste” her. Appellant then proceeded to put his head under the bedcovers, between B.L.’s legs, [and] pulled B.L.’s underwear to the side. B.L. then described that Appellant “grabbed me and had [my] vagina open and licked me top to bottom.” Afterward, as Appellant left the room, B.L. testified that Appellant told her that “I want to do it again.” [Appellant then turned around, returned to her bed, licked her vagina again, and finally left the room.]

3 Appellant also was charged with one count of corruption of minors.

-2- J-S47034-20

B.L. testified that she told her boyfriend at the time, Anthony, about the incident a few days after it occurred. B.L. also told her best friend, Lisa, about what happened, but did not provide details of the incident. Around the same time, B.L. also expressed to Anthony that she wanted to become pregnant so that she could be emancipated from her parents.

In 2004, an argument occurred between Appellant and Bridget regarding a cell phone that Appellant had provided to B.L., but which Bridget did not approve. After Appellant called B.L. to inform her that [Bridget] found the phone, B.L. and Anthony arrived at the house and the family had a meeting. During that meeting, Anthony told Bridget that Appellant had been smoking marijuana with B.L. and urged B.L. to tell [Bridget] about the sexual assault. B.L. testified that she told Bridget about the sexual assault and [Bridget] kicked Appellant out of the house.

Approximately two hours later, Bridget … took B.L. to the courthouse to report the incident. Although she could not remember with whom she spoke, B.L. testified that she was interviewed that night by a member of law enforcement. Roughly one month later, B.L. received a call from law enforcement asking if she wanted to press charges, to which she replied that she did not want to press charges if she would have to see Appellant in court. B.L. did not receive any further communication regarding the sexual assault until [CYS questioned her about it again in 2016.]

In October of 2004, B.L. found out that she was pregnant. At that time, B.L. moved out of Bridget’s house, married Anthony, and moved in with Anthony’s family. Appellant attended the wedding, at which B.L. stated that she and Appellant hugged and cried but did not say anything. One night, B.L. returned to [Bridget’s] house to ask her … for help and saw Appellant living back at the house. Thereafter, Appellant and Bridget moved to Boston for Bridget’s job.

Ultimately, B.L. and Anthony had two daughters together, but eventually separated in 2010. Aft[er] the separation, B.L. moved into a home in Reading and their two daughters stayed with Anthony in New Jersey. However, that same year, Anthony contacted B.L. for help, requesting that B.L. take their daughters and B.L. agreed. When B.L. arrived home with her daughters,

-3- J-S47034-20

[CYS] became involved and B.L. had the choice of placing the children into foster care or with a family member. B.L. asked Bridget to take care of her daughters, thinking that the process to get the children back with her would be short. At the time, Appellant was residing with Bridget, but B.L. testified that she believed [Bridget] “would be on high alert” and that she “would watch these little girls and make sure nothing would happen to anybody else again.” B.L. also testified that she felt that she had nobody else that could help. In 2011, B.L. gave custodial guardianship to Bridget and Appellant, who were living in the Boston area. The guardianship ended in 2013 and B.L. regained custody of her daughters.

In 2016, an unrelated incident occurred between another family member and B.L.[’]s oldest daughter. Upon becoming aware of the situation, B.L. contacted CYS and law enforcement. During the interview with the CYS caseworker, the worker questioned B.L. regarding the earlier complaint about Appellant. B.L. testified that the caseworker initiated the paperwork for the claim and, about a week later, Detective Thomas Weaver came to B.L.’s home and an investigation [into the 2004 incident] ensued.

As part of the investigation, B.L. placed a telephone call to Appellant while sitting in Detective Weaver’s vehicle. One of the phone calls was recorded and played to the jury during the trial.

On cross-examination, B.L. admitted that she knew Appellant would be home with her children, though she believed that her children would be in school during the day. B.L. also understood that granting custodial guardianship to [Bridget] and Appellant would provide them with broad authority in the care of her children. Moreover, B.L. confirmed that CYS approved of the guardianship.

When questioned about whether she had asked Appellant to attend her wedding, B.L. stated that she did not remember inviting him. Nevertheless, B.L.

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Torres, G., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-torres-g-pasuperct-2021.