Commonwealth v. Baker-Myers

210 A.3d 1093
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 21, 2019
DocketNo. 1398 WDA 2016
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 210 A.3d 1093 (Commonwealth v. Baker-Myers) 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. Baker-Myers, 210 A.3d 1093 (Pa. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

OPINION BY DUBOW, J.:

Appellant, James Duane Baker-Myers, appeals from the August 19, 2016 Judgment of Sentence entered in the Mercer County Court of Common Pleas following his jury conviction of Corruption of Minors, graded as a third-degree felony ("COM-Felony").1 Appellant claims, inter alia, that the Commonwealth's evidence was insufficient to convict him of COM-Felony because the jury acquitted him of Rape, Sexual Assault, Aggravated Indecent Assault, and Indecent Assault2 (collectively, "the Sexual Offenses"). We are constrained to agree with Appellant and find that the Commonwealth failed to prove an essential element of COM-Felony. We, thus, vacate Appellant's COM-Felony conviction, and remand for resentencing on the lesser-included offense of COM, graded as a first-degree misdemeanor ("COM-Misdemeanor").3

Police charged Appellant with the Sexual Offenses arising from the 17-year-old victim's allegation that, on the evening of July 19, 2015, 20-year-old Appellant sexually assaulted her.

Following a two-day trial, on April 13, 2016, the jury convicted Appellant of COM-Felony. The jury, however, found him not guilty of the Sexual Offenses.4

*1095On August 29, 2016, the court imposed a sentence of one to two years' imprisonment, and a consecutive term of three years' probation. Additionally, Appellant's conviction of COM-Felony classified him as a Tier I sexual offender, and required him to comply with the fifteen-year registration and reporting requirements of the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act.5 Appellant did not file a Post-Sentence Motion.

This timely appeal followed. Both Appellant and the trial court complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.

Appellant raises the following two issues on appeal:

[1.] Whether the jury's guilty verdict on the charge of [COM-Felony] was not supported by sufficient evidence since a material element of the offense was the commission of a Chapter 31 offense and Appellant was found not guilty of all four of the [Sexual Offenses] charged[?]
[2.] Whether the jury's guilty verdict on the charge of [COM-Felony] was not supported by sufficient evidence since the evidence failed to establish Appellant's acts constituted a "course of conduct[?]"

Appellant's Brief at 5.

Appellant first claims that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury's guilty verdict on the COM-Felony because in order to convict Appellant of COM-Felony, the jury must convict him of at least one Chapter 31 sexual offense with which the Commonwealth charged him. Id. at 14. He concludes that since the jury found Appellant not guilty of the charged Chapter 31 Sexual Offenses, the evidence was insufficient to convict him of COM-Felony. Id. at 11. We agree.

It is well settled that "a claim challenging the sufficiency of the evidence is a question of law." Commonwealth v. Widmer , 560 Pa. 308, 744 A.2d 745, 751 (2000). "We review claims regarding the sufficiency of the evidence by considering whether, viewing all the evidence admitted at trial in the light most favorable to the verdict winner, there is sufficient evidence to enable the fact-finder to find every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." Commonwealth v. Miller , 172 A.3d 632, 640 (Pa. Super. 2017) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

Additionally, the burden is on the Commonwealth to prove every element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. Minerd , 562 Pa. 46, 753 A.2d 225, 231 (2000). It follows generally then, that if a jury finds a defendant not guilty, then the jury has found that the Commonwealth failed to establish the elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.

Turning to the elements of COM-Felony, the jury, in order to convict a defendant of COM-Felony, must find the following:

Whoever, being of the age of 18 years and upwards, by any course of conduct in violation of Chapter 31 (relating to sexual offenses) corrupts or tends to corrupt the morals of any minor less than 18 years of age, or who aids, abets, entices or encourages any such minor in the commission of an offense under Chapter 31 commits a felony of the third degree.

18 Pa.C.S. § 6301(a)(1)(ii) (emphasis added). In other words, the jury must find, inter alia, that a defendant acted "in violation of Chapter 31 (relating to sexual offenses)." Id.

*1096While we have not identified any authority directly on this issue, a review of an analogous case, Commonwealth v. Magliocco , 584 Pa. 244, 883 A.2d 479 (2005), guides our analysis. In Magliocco , a jury convicted the defendant of Ethnic Intimidation, but did not convict him of Terroristic Threats. The Ethnic Intimidation statute requires, inter alia, that the Commonwealth prove that the defendant committed Terroristic Threats and did so "with malicious intention toward the race, color, religion[,] or national origin of another individual or group of individuals[.]" 18 Pa.C.S. § 2710(a). The Supreme Court concluded that since the Commonwealth charged and prosecuted Appellant with the predicate offense of Terroristic Threats, but failed obtain a conviction, the evidence was insufficient to convict the defendant of Ethnic Intimidation. Id. at 493.

Analogously, in the instant case, the Commonwealth charged and prosecuted Appellant for COM-Felony and the Sexual Offenses, but failed to obtain a conviction on any of the Sexual Offenses.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
210 A.3d 1093, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-baker-myers-pasuperct-2019.