Commonwealth v. Barker

4 Pa. D. & C.5th 340
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County
DecidedAugust 29, 2006
Docketno. CP-06-CR-000178-2005
StatusPublished

This text of 4 Pa. D. & C.5th 340 (Commonwealth v. Barker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Berks County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Barker, 4 Pa. D. & C.5th 340 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2006).

Opinion

BUCCI, J,

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Appellant, Scott Barker, was charged with two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse,1 three counts of aggravated indecent assault,2 disseminating explicit sexual material to a minor,3 endangering the welfare of a child,4 corruption of minors,5 and three counts of indecent assault.6

[342]*342On November 21, 2005, appellant pled guilty to one count of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and corruption of minors. Pursuant to a plea agreement with the Commonwealth, appellant was sentenced on May 25, 2006 to five to 10 years incarceration followed by five years probation. On this same date, a Megan’s Law hearing was held, during which this court heard testimony from Dr. Veronique Valliere of the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board and Dr. Timothy Foley, appellant’s expert. Following the hearing, this court determined that appellant is a sexually violent predator.

Thereafter, appellant filed a timely notice of appeal to the Superior Court on June 12, 2006. On June 14, 2006, this court entered an order requiring appellant to file , a concise statement of matters complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. § 1925(b). On June 27, 2006, appellant filed his concise statement, raising the following issues:

(1) The evidence presented was insufficient to prove by clear and convincing evidence that defendant meets the statutory definition of being a sexually violent predator pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. §9792.

(2) The trial court erred in not rendering the testimony of the sexual offender assessor inadmissible because the assessor based her findings on hearsay statements of mere uncorroborated reports and allegations and facts beyond the limited facts of which defendant plead guilty.

(3) The trial court erred by finding that defendant was a sexually violent predator where the finding was contrary to the weight of the evidence.

[343]*343STATEMENT OF FACTS

The disturbing events that led to appellant’s conviction began in 1998, when appellant orally raped his 4-year-old stepdaughter, C.E. C.E. described to investigators an ongoing pattern of sexual assault by appellant. She reported that appellant put his penis inside her crotch, rubbed her genitals with his hand, forced her to masturbate him, and orally raped her by both putting his mouth on her vagina and putting his penis in her mouth. The victim also reported that appellant had her watch pornography and would put his penis between her naked buttocks and “move up and down.” She described semen and ejaculate, saying he would but his penis in her mouth until “stuff’ came out. C.E. reported that appellant once made her masturbate him in a park. (Commonwealth exhibit no. 1, sentencing hearing, 5/25/06, at 1-2.)

When interviewed by investigators, appellant admitted to the sexual abuse of his stepdaughter. He admitted to repeatedly orally raping C.E., as well as to simulating sex with her by putting his penis between her legs or buttocks. Appellant was quite blatant in these attacks, reporting that he once forced C.E. to masturbate him on a park bench and that he would assault her with other children in the home. In fact, appellant was actually caught twice by his wife, but persisted in his assaults. It appears that appellant abused C.E. from 1998 to 2000, stopped for a few years, and then began again in 2003. On September 27, 2004, Berks County Children and Youth Services received a report of the sexual abuse. (Commonwealth exhibit no. 1, sentencing hearing, 5/25/06, at 1-2.)

[344]*344ADMIS SABILITY OF DR. VALLIERE’S TESTIMONY

Appellant contends that this court erred permitting the testimony of Dr. Valliere, a member of the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board, because she based her assessment on hearsay statements. Dr. Valliere utilized perhaps a dozen different sources in making her evaluation, including the affidavit of probable cause, bail information, this court’s order for the Sexual Offender Assessment Board evaluation, the Child Protective Services report, the criminal docket history, a drawing by the victim, an investigation report by the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board investigator, a letter from appellant’s attorney, the police criminal complaint, a Reading Police Department summary incident report, records from Berks County Children and Youth Services, a sex offender evaluation, and a transcript of appellant’s guilty plea hearing. (Commonwealth exhibit no. 1, sentencing hearing, 5/25/06, at 1.) (N.T., sentencing hearing, 5/25/06, at 11.) Appellant objects to all of these sources except the guilty plea colloquy. (N.T., sentencing hearing, 5/25/06, at 12.)

“ [A]n appellate court may reverse a trial court’s ruling regarding the admissibility of evidence only upon a showing that the trial court abused its discretion.” Commonwealth v. Johnson, 874 A.2d 66, 72 (Pa. Super. 2005), citing Commonwealth v. Minerd, 562 Pa. 46, 54, 753 A.2d 225, 229 (2000). “An abuse of discretion is not merely an error of judgment, but is rather the overriding or misapplication of the law, or the exercise of judgment that is manifestly unreasonable, or the result of bias, [345]*345prejudice, ill will or partiality, as shown by the evidence or the record.” Johnson, 874 A.2d at 72.

To be admissible, evidence must be competent and relevant. Commonwealth v. Freidl, 834 A.2d 638, 641 (Pa. Super. 2003). The courts of this Commonwealth have repeatedly held that evidence is admissible if, and only if, the evidence logically or reasonably tends to prove or disprove a material fact in issue, tends to make such fact more or less probable, or affords the basis for or supports a reasonable inference or presumption regarding the existence of a material fact. Id. See also, Pa.R.E. 401.

Pennsylvania Rule of Evidence 703 provides that:

“The facts or data in the particular case upon which an expert bases an opinion or inference may be those perceived by or made known to the expert at or before the hearing. If of a type reasonably relied upon by experts in the particular field in forming opinions or inferences upon the subject, the facts or data need not be admissible in evidence.”

Dr. Valliere testified that all the items she used in her sexual offender assessment are the type of information commonly used by experts in rendering similar assessments. (N.T., sentencing hearing, 5/25/06, at 11.) Therefore, this court properly admitted her testimony pursuant Pa.R.E. 703.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

The appropriate standard of review regarding the sufficiency of the evidence is “whether the evidence admit[346]*346ted at trial and all reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, when viewed in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth as the verdict winner, is sufficient to support all the elements of the offenses.” Commonwealth v. DeJesus, 567 Pa. 415, 422, 787 A.2d 394, 398 (2001).

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Related

Commonwealth v. Krouse
799 A.2d 835 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2002)
Commonwealth v. Minerd
753 A.2d 225 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2000)
Commonwealth v. Johnson
874 A.2d 66 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2005)
Commonwealth v. Schwartz
615 A.2d 350 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1992)
Commonwealth v. Freidl
834 A.2d 638 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2003)
Commonwealth v. DeJesus
787 A.2d 394 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Commonwealth v. McCloskey
835 A.2d 801 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2003)

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Bluebook (online)
4 Pa. D. & C.5th 340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-barker-pactcomplberks-2006.