Commonwealth v. Rosser

135 A.3d 1077, 2016 Pa. Super. 51, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 129, 2016 WL 769485
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 26, 2016
Docket3258 EDA 2013
StatusPublished
Cited by104 cases

This text of 135 A.3d 1077 (Commonwealth v. Rosser) 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. Rosser, 135 A.3d 1077, 2016 Pa. Super. 51, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 129, 2016 WL 769485 (Pa. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

OPINION BY

JENKINS, J.:

Wanya Rosser was charged with raping a 19-year-old woman, S.R., as she walked home in the early morning hours of October 16, 2010. The trial court prohibited defense counsel from cross-examining S.R. as to whether Rosser told her, following the assault: “I can’t see you again, we could be friends, but I have a girlfriend.”

The principal issue in this direct appeal is whether the trial court abused its discretion and violated Rosser’s constitutional right of confrontation by precluding this cross-examination. Rosser has waived this issue, and even if he preserved it for appeal, it is devoid of merit because there is no factual basis in the record that he actually made this statement. For these reasons, and for others articulated below, we affirm Rosser’s judgment of sentence.

I.

Evidence adduced during trial. The trial court’s opinion thoroughly describes the evidence adduced against Rosser:

The instant case arises out of events that occurred in the early morning hours of October 16, 2010, in Cheltenham, [1080]*1080Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. That morning,- half a block away from her house, [S.R.] was attacked, threatened, and forcibly raped by [Rosser]. She had never met or talked to [Rosser] before he raped her. She did not fight back because, according to her testimony, [Rosser]’s abrupt and forceful attack and threatening statements made her fearful 'for her life. Because of that fear, she testified that she believed that the only way to survive was to pretend to befriend her attacker rather than attempt to run away and face even more violent consequences. She reported the rape to her family and the police within seconds of being free from [Rosser], and went to the hospital for a sexual assault examination. Police were able to identify and apprehend [Rosser] near [S.R.]’s house shortly after she reported the incident. [Rosser] was subsequently tried and- convicted for Rape, Sexual Assault, and related offenses.
At trial, [S.R.] testified that [Rosser], a complete stranger to her, attacked her from behind, threatened and forcibly raped her just half a block away from her house as she walked home from work on the morning of October 16, 2010. At the time, she was nineteen years old, a student at the Community College of Philadelphia, and. working late shifts as a preparatory cook in the kitchen of Sugarhouse Casino in Philadelphia. Shortly after midnight that morning, after completing her shift, she began her commute to her house in Cheltenham. She took the Market-Frankford rapid transit line to the Frankford Transportation Center, where she then took the Route 24 bus to Cheltenham.
Video surveillance footage of the 'Frank-ford Transportation Center shows [S.R.] alone as she waited for the Route 24 bus between 12:34 a.m. and 12:51 a.m. This video also shows [Rosser] alone waiting at the same bus stop and standing approximately twenty (20) feet away from [S.R.]. [S.R.] testified that, at the time, she was unaware of [Rosser] and his presence -at- the .same bus stop. She identified him in the footage several months before trial. The only person [S.R.] spoke to on the bus was the bus driver, to whom she said ‘hello’ and ‘good-bye.’
Next, video surveillance footage of a Wawa convenience store shows the Route 24 bus pulling up to the Chelten-ham station at 1:05 a.m., where [S.R.] stepped out of the bus alone, and walked across the street to the Wawa. At 1:06 a.m., the footage shows an unaccompanied [S.R.] entering the Wawa, where she checked her bank account balance, and purchased a cup of coffee. At 1:10 a.m., the footage shows [S.R.], still by herself, .exiting the store. [S.R.] testi-fied that she never saw nor spoke to [Rosser] at or near the Wawa. She had no knowledge of [Rosser]’s existence or presence in proximity to her that night. According to [S.R.], it was cold outside when she left the Wawa, and she immediately , began the five-to-ten-minute walk to her house, on Woodland Avenue. She walked in the middle of the street, where her mother had told her she would be able to see anyone approaching her if she was alone, and where she thought she would be safer.
When she was approximately a quarter of the way down the street where she lived, she heard quick, heavy-footsteps behind her. ' Before she could see who was rushing behind her, she felt someone forcefully grab her head and place a • strong -and firm arm around her throat. Having just taken a sip of her coffee, [S.R.] choked on the liquid, and was unable to scream. As she tried to cough [1081]*1081the coffee out of her mouth, and in her shock, she only managed to exclaim the words, ‘My coffee. My coffee.’ She heard her attacker repeat, ‘Shh, you are being too loud. You are being too loud.’ Standing directly behind her, he lifted and guided her from the street and toward the sidewalk. He then directed her toward a small.grassy hill leading to the front entrance steps of Preservation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) Parish School, where [S.R.]’s family were members of the parish. As they reached the grass, [S.R.] tripped and stumbled forward. She caught herself on the sidewalk with one hand, held her coffee cup with the other hand, and managed to finish coughing up the coffee that was stuck in 'her throat. She told [Rosser] thát she did hot have any money. He continued to hold her by the throat, and guide her up the small hill and across a mulch-covered pathway until they reached a dark, secluded lawn area between the school and an ivy-covered fence.
[S.R.] testified that by sensing the strength and firmness with which he pressed his arm around her throat, 'she surmised that he was stronger than she, so she decided not to try to fight back for fear of a more violent consequence. She was not sure if he had a weapon. She also felt [Rosser] relax the pressure around her throat as she lessened her resistance and complied with his demands. She felt that she was being overpowered physically and that submitting to his demands was the only way to survive.
In the secluded lawn area next to the school, [Rosser] maintained one hand around her throat, and placed her cup on top of an air conditioner unit sticking out of the building. She repeatedly begged him not to hurt her, and he replied that she was being too loud, and warned her, ‘Don’t make me hurt you,’ and ‘Don’t scream.’ He then reached into the waistband of her pants and Underwear and pulled them down to right above her knees. He pressed on her back, and guided her to bend over- and get down on all fours on the ground in front of him. [S.R.] continued to beg him not to hurt her, and he replied that he would only hurt her if she made him hurt her,- [Rosser] then unzipped his pants, and began to vaginally rape [S.R.] from behind.
As the rape began, [S.R.] repeated her pleas with him not to harm or kill her. She eventually noticed that [Rosser] began to ease up on the amount of pressure he used to hold her. He no longer had his arm around her neck. Instead, he held one of her arms behind her back and he placed one arm over the arm she had planted on the ground. At one point, [Rosser] removed his penis from her vagina and tried to insert it in her anus. She asked him not to do that, and he reinserted his penis in her vagina and continued to vaginally rape her.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
135 A.3d 1077, 2016 Pa. Super. 51, 2016 Pa. Super. LEXIS 129, 2016 WL 769485, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-rosser-pasuperct-2016.