Commonwealth v. Davidson

860 A.2d 575, 2004 Pa. Super. 396, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3835
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 14, 2004
StatusPublished
Cited by128 cases

This text of 860 A.2d 575 (Commonwealth v. Davidson) 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. Davidson, 860 A.2d 575, 2004 Pa. Super. 396, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3835 (Pa. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

LALLY-GREEN, J.:

¶ 1 Appellant, Joseph Henry Paul Davidson, appeals from the judgment of sentence entered on February 25, 2003, in the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County. After careful review, we affirm.

¶ 2 The trial court summarized the factual and procedural background of the ease as follows.

On or about February 6, 2002, Joseph Henry Paul Davidson [“Appellant”] was arrested and charged with fifty (50) counts of Sexual Abuse of Children (18 Pa.C.SA. § 6312). Appellant was arrested as a result of a criminal investigation conducted by members of the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division’s Task Force Triad, which directs its efforts in the area of Internet crimes against children. Members of Task Force Triad learned of Appellant’s involvement in child pornography using the Internet and[,] after seizing Appellant’s computer, discovered approximately five hundred (500) images of child pornography located on the computer’s hard drive.
On November 13, 2002, Appellant was tried before this Court, sitting without a jury, with respect to fifty (50) of the aforesaid images. On November 14, 2002, this Court convicted Appellant of twenty-eight (28) counts of Sexual Abuse of Children. On February 25, 2003, Appellant was sentenced to serve an aggregate term of confinement of not less than one (1) year less one (1) day nor more than two (2) years less one (1) day.... Additionally, a term of probation of five (5) years was imposed [to run concurrently]. Also, Appellant was ordered to undergo a psychosexual evaluation, with supervision by the Sexual Abuse Unit. Appellant was ordered to comply with all recommendations. Further, this Court ordered the forfeiture of Appellant’s computer hard drives and monitor. Appellant was ordered to register with the Pennsylvania State Police for ten (10) years and provide a DNA sample prior to his release. Immediately following sentencing, Appellant filed Motions for Extraordinary Relief pursuant to Pa.R.Crim.P. 704 ... challenging the sufficiency and weight of the evidence, which were denied by this Court. (N.T. 2/25/03 at 13,14).
On March 11, 2003, Appellant filed a Notice of Appeal, appealing [from] the Judgment of Sentence. On March 13, 2002, this Court directed Appellant to file a Concise Statement of Matters Complained of on Appeal. On or about March 26, 2003, this Court received Appellant’s [timely] Concise Statement of Matters Complained of on Appeal....

Trial Court Opinion, 12/30/03, at 1-2.

¶ 3 Appellant raises six issues:

1. Did the trial court err in deciding that the verdict [sic], as a matter of law, was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Appellant was guilty of the offenses charged?
2. Did the trial court commit error in ruling the verdict, as a matter of law, not contrary to the weight of the evidence?
3. Did the court commit error in determining the offense, “sexual abuse of children,” 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6312(d), to be [sic] constitutionally vague insofar as it deprives Appellant of due process by making illegal the possession of depictions of child “nudity if such nudity is depicted for the purpose of sexual stimulation or *579 gratification of any person who might view such depiction.”
4. Did the court err in ruling the offense, “sexual abuse of children,” 18 Pa. C.S.A. § 6812(d), was not unconstitutionally overbroad insofar as it deprives Appellant of due process by making illegal the possession of depictions of children showing “nudity if such nudity is depicted for the purpose of sexual stimulation or gratification of any person who might view such depiction?”
5. Did the court commit [error] in determining that Appellant’s constitutional right not [to] be placed in double jeopardy was not violated by receiving multiple sentences where the Com[monwealth], counting the quantity [sic] of items of contraband that were found to be in his possession, charged multiple counts for a single possessory offense.
6. Did the court commit error in ruling that the offense, “sexual abuse of children,” 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6312(d), is constitutional although it purports to make criminal the possession of a “computer depiction” of children[,] ignoring whether the subject portrayed in a computer graphic is a real child as required by the United State [sic] and Pennsylvania Constitutions and/or that the Commonwealth did not prove that the computer generated images were representations of real children?

Brief for Appellant at 4-5. 1

¶4 Appellant’s first claim is that the evidence was insufficient to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Appellant’s argument is that there were so many pornographic images on his computer (tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands) and so relatively few images constituting child pornography as to raise the inference that Appellant did not even know of the presence of the child pornography. Appellant argues that the evidence was therefore insufficient to establish that he knowingly possessed the child pornography. Brief for Appellant at 9-16.

¶ 5 Our standard of review is:

In evaluating a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we view all the evidence admitted at trial in the light *580 most favorable to the Commonwealth, which has won the verdict, and draw all reasonable inferences in its favor. We then determine whether the evidence was sufficient to have permitted the trier of fact to find that each and every element of the crimes charged was established beyond a reasonable doubt. “[I]t is the province of the trier of fact to pass upon the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be accorded the evidence produced. The factfinder is free to believe all, part or none of the evidence.” In addition, the facts and circumstances established by the Commonwealth “need not be absolutely incompatible with [the] defendant’s innocence, but the question of any doubt is for the [factfinder] unless the evidence ‘be so weak and inconclusive that as a matter of law no probability of fact can be drawn from the combined circumstances.’ ”

Commonwealth v. Nicotra, 425 Pa.Super. 600, 625 A.2d 1259, 1261 (1993) (citations omitted); see, Commonwealth v. Marks, 704 A.2d 1095, 1098 (Pa.Super.1997).

¶ 6 The crime of sexual abuse of children is defined in 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 6312(a), (d), and (e):

§ 6312. Sexual abuse of children

(a) Definition. — As used in this section, “prohibited sexual act” means sexual intercourse as defined in section 3101 (relating to definitions), masturbation, sadism, masochism, bestiality, fellatio, cunnilingus, lewd exhibition of the genitals or nudity if such nudity is depicted for the purpose of sexual stimulation or gratification of any person who might view such depiction.
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(d) Possession of child pornography.—

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Bluebook (online)
860 A.2d 575, 2004 Pa. Super. 396, 2004 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3835, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-davidson-pasuperct-2004.