Commonwealth v. Aaron

615 A.2d 735, 419 Pa. Super. 470, 1992 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3327
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedSeptember 30, 1992
DocketNos. 1013
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 615 A.2d 735 (Commonwealth v. Aaron) 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
Commonwealth v. Aaron, 615 A.2d 735, 419 Pa. Super. 470, 1992 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3327 (Pa. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

DEL SOLE, Judge.

APPEALS AT NOS. 1013 AND 1019 PGH 1991.

Appellant takes these appeals from the sentences imposed after a jury found him guilty of escape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, rape, statutory rape, incest, corruption of minors, indecent assault and endangering the welfare of children. The sexual offense charges relate to Appellants actions over a period of years involving his natural daughter, who was nine years old at the time of trial. On appeal Appellant sets forth four issues based upon events which occurred before or at his trial which he claims require that he be awarded a new trial. Our review causes us to conclude that Appellant is not entitled to the relief he seeks, and for the reasons which follow, we affirm the Judgments of Sentence.

Appellant, in his first issue, asks us to consider whether the trial court erred or abused its discretion by granting the Commonwealth’s motion to consolidate for trial sex offense charges and an escape charge. The informations setting forth the sex offense charges were filed first. A later charge, relating to an escape attempt which Appellant made as a constable was transporting him back from the preliminary hearing, was subsequently filed, prompting the Commonwealth’s motion.

In his Brief on this issue Appellant acknowledges that consolidation of the charges was proper in that evidence of both the escape and sex offense charges would be admissible in separate trials for each. He further concedes that the Commonwealth’s request for consolidated was filed was “within the time frame allotted” under Pa.R.Crim.P. 1127(B). Thus, despite the manner in which Appellant frames his issue, he does not dispute that the motion was properly granted by the trial court. However, in the body of his argument, Appellant asserts that the trial court erred in not complying “with the clearly implicated intent of Rule 1127”. This rule which sets forth the procedure for joinder provides:

[474]*474B. Procedure.
(1) Written notice that offenses or defendants charged in separate indictments or informations will be tried together shall be served on the defendant at or before arraignment. A copy of the notice shall be filed with the clerk of court.
(2) When notice has not been given under paragraph B(l), any party may move to consolidate for trial separate indictments or informations, which motion must ordinarily be included in the omnibus pretrial motion.

Because the Commonwealth’s motion to consolidate was timely filed within the period of time for pretrial motions on the escape charge, Appellant contends that the court when granting the motion to consolidate should have provided for a trial date based upon the escape charge and revoked the previously scheduled trial date on the sex offense charges. Appellant asserts that the court’s failure to reschedule trial after granting the consolidation motion “resulted in an unfair prejudice to the defendant’s case in that the trial commenced just five (5) days following the court’s grant.” Thus, Appellant’s claim is not that the motion was improperly granted, but that the trial court wrongly failed to reschedule his trial date to a later time after granting the motion.

Although Appellant makes this allegation before this court, we fail to find evidence in the record that Appellant made a demand on the trial court to reschedule his trial based upon the argument he now presents. Further, Appellant fails to advise us in what particular manner he was prejudiced by the court’s action. He does not indicate that his counsel was in need of more time to prepare a defense to the escape charges. Appellant testified in his own behalf on the charges defending his actions by stating that he fled because he was scared and panicked, but when he came to his senses and was sorry for what he had done, he turned around to walk to the Constable who had been chasing him. Appellant does not allege that there was further evidence he could have offered to support this defense that he was unable to bring forth because of short time between the consolidation and trial. Accordingly, we cannot rule that the trial court abused its discretion in [475]*475consolidating the charges and in proceeding to trial in this matter.

The second claim made by Appellant also concerns a pre-trial matter. Appellant contends that it was an error for the court to permit an amendment to the criminal information just prior to the commencement of trial. The information at the time of trial alleged that Appellant had committed the alleged sexual acts against his minor daughter “at various dates and times until May 20, 1990.” It further alleged that these offenses occurred at a location on Maple Street in McKean Township. At the time of trial the Commonwealth sought, and the trial court granted, an amendment to the information which provided that the incidents occurred at the Maple Street address and “various other addresses in Erie County.” The Commonwealth sought the amendment to conform the information with the testimony the victim offered at the preliminary hearing and the fact that Appellant resided in a number of places over a period of time. Appellant’s counsel objected and responded that she was prepared to defend with respect to dates between 1987 and 1990, beginning when Appellant lived with a woman named Lori, who was also accused by the child of sexual abuse. However, defense counsel argued that she was unprepared to defend against acts which occurred prior to 1987 because those dates were not addressed at the preliminary hearing. The Commonwealth countered by offering the child’s preliminary hearing testimony that some acts of abuse occurred in a swimming pool and by noting that prior to 1987 Appellant lived in a home with a swimming pool located somewhere other than Maple Street.

Although Appellant’s counsel correctly recounts that the victim did not state at the preliminary hearing that the abuse occurred in her father’s backyard pool and that it could have been a different swimming pool, we nevertheless find support for the trial court’s ruling in this matter. In Commonwealth v. King, 227 Pa.Super. 168, 323 A.2d 260 (1974) when considering whether a trial court erred in granting an amendment [476]*476which changed thé time during which an alleged drug sale was said to have occurred, the court stated:

We are of the opinion the lower court was correct in granting the requested amendment to the indictment. The defendant failed to attack the validity of the transcript of the preliminary hearing at any time before the indictment. He also failed to file a motion to quash the indictment because of vagueness or indefiniteness or to file a petition for a Bill of Particulars requesting the Commonwealth to state more specifically the time of day when [the] alleged crime occurred. It was too late for defendant to ask for this specifically at time of trial. However, the trial court, although it was not obliged to do so, did allow a two-hour recess of the trial in order to give the defense additional time to locate and interview witnesses concerning a 1:00 p.m. alibi. Defense counsel was also offered the service of the County detective [’s] office to locate and subpoena any such witnesses for the defense in order to assure their presence in court on the following day of the trial.

We likewise find no error in the present case.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
615 A.2d 735, 419 Pa. Super. 470, 1992 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3327, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-aaron-pasuperct-1992.