Commonwealth v. Wantz

84 A.3d 324, 2014 Pa. Super. 6, 2014 WL 117094, 2014 Pa. Super. LEXIS 7
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 14, 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by98 cases

This text of 84 A.3d 324 (Commonwealth v. Wantz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme 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. Wantz, 84 A.3d 324, 2014 Pa. Super. 6, 2014 WL 117094, 2014 Pa. Super. LEXIS 7 (Pa. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION BY DONOHUE, J.:

Appellant, Kelly Rolan Wantz (“Wantz”), appeals from the order entered on March 7, 2013, denying his petition for relief pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act, 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 9541-46 (“PCRA”). For the reasons that follow, we affirm the PCRA court’s order.

On January 27, 2005, Wantz was home alone with his one-month old twin boys in Littlestown Borough, Adams County, when he observed that one of his sons, J.W., was unresponsive and having trouble breathing. N.T., 3/25/2008, at 234-46. Wantz called 911 and J.W. was taken by ambulance to Gettysburg Hospital, with Wantz following in his vehicle. Id. at 243-46. Upon initial examination, it was medically determined that J.W. should be flown to Hershey Medical Center for specialized care. Id. at 249. Wantz did not follow J.W. to Hershey Medical Center, but instead drove himself home. Id. at 250.

At Hershey Medical Center, Dr. Mark Dias (“Dr. Dias”), a pediatric neurosurgeon, undertook the treatment of J.W. During the first two days, Dr. Dias treated J.W. for seizures. CT scans and MRIs revealed blood and swelling in the child’s brain. J.W. could not swallow safely and required a feeding tube. Hospital staff reported J.W.’s injuries to the Adams County Children and Youth Services (“CYS”). On January 31, 2005, a CYS caseworker and a Littlestown Borough police officer interviewed Wantz. Wantz told them that he had just put the twins in their car seats to feed them when J.W. became quiet, at which time he rocked the car seat to prevent him from going to sleep. N.T., 3/25/2008, at 309-11. Wantz said that J.W.’s head then “flopped,” he felt cold, and he could not breathe properly — at which time Wantz immediately called 911. Id. at 310. During this interview, Wantz reportedly told the caseworker, “I’ll say I did it. I don’t care about jail. I’ll say did it just to have the children back home with [their mother]. I’ll just say I did it. I don’t care. I’ll just go to jail.” N.T., 1/24/2008, at 58.

On February 2, 2005, CYS filed a petition seeking to have J.W. declared a dependent child. The juvenile court held adjudication hearings on April 8, May 26, and August 4, 2005. On April 8, 2005, Dr. Dias1 testified that the CT and MRI scans [326]*326of J.W.’s head showed acute blood around both sides of his brain as well as the outside of the brain. Trial Court Opinion, 3/7/2013, at ¶ 10. The right side had a fluid collection that appeared to be chronic in nature. Id. The images also indicated a contusion to the right temporal lobe, reflective of a sudden deceleration of the brain while moving forward. Id. Dr. Dias found no evidence of a fracture or retinal hemorrhage. Id. In Dr. Dias’ professional opinion, J.W. experienced a severe closed head injury due to an angular rotational acceleration of the head, typical of “shaken baby syndrome” or “shaken impact syndrome.” Id. J.W.’s seizures were also strongly suggestive of angular acceleration rotation. Id. He could not determine if the injury was from a single or multiple incidents, but if from a single incident, Dr. Dias opined that it occurred on January 27, 2005. Id. In sum, Dr. Dias stated, within a reasonable degree of medical certainty, that J.W.’s injuries were consistent with a non-accidental trauma. Id.

On May 26, 2005, Wantz offered the testimony of Dr. Richard T. Callery (“Dr. Callery”).2 Dr. Callery reviewed J.W.’s prenatal and birth records as well as medical records related to his January 2005 hospitalization. N.T., 5/26/2005, at 16. Dr. Callery indicated that J.W.’s placenta had one artery (instead of two) and one vein. Id. at 16. According to Dr. Callery, this congenital abnormality of the placenta is associated with congenital defects and abnormality not apparent at birth, but which often appear within the first month. Id. at 17-18. As a result, Dr. Callery opined that J.W. had a high statistical chance of having an abnormal central nervous system. Id. at 19. In his testimony, Dr. Callery' indicated that the radiological evaluation of the CT scan performed at Gettysburg Hospital on J.W. on January 27, 2005 described atrophy on the right brain hemisphere,3 which can be caused by congenital abnormality of the placenta associated with anoxia. Id. at 18-20. Dr. Callery further testified that the same radiological evaluation of the CT scan showed “an increased density along the inner calvarial margin” associated with “calcification” rather than hemorrhaging. Id. at 21. Such calcification, sometimes referred to as encephalomalacia, is associated with atrophy caused by lack of oxygenated blood going to the brain during gestation. Id. at 21-22. This condition, according to Dr. Callery, could explain J.W.’s seizures upon hospitalization. Id. at 22. In sum, Dr. Callery opined to a reasonable degree of medical certainty that J.W.’s injury was not caused by an angular rotational acceleration of the head. Id. at 30. In further support of his conclusion, Dr. Callery also testified that tests revealed no injury to J.W.’s retina or optic nerves, a common condition present in shaken baby injury cases because of the viscosity of the vitreous fluid in an infant’s eyes. Id. at 22, 27, 32.

On August 4, 2005, Dr. Robert A. Zim[327]*327merman (“Dr. Zimmerman”)4 testified that he had reviewed the CT scans of J.W.’s brain on January 27, January 28, and February 4, 2005, and an MRI taken on January 28, 2005. Trial Court Opinion, 3/7/2013, at ¶ 12. The January 27 CT scan showed an extensive acute subdural hemorrhage on the top and left side of the head as well as a small amount of blood on the right side. Id. According to Dr. Zimmerman, this bleeding pattern is consistent with non-accidental infantile head trauma.5 Id. The January 28 CT scan showed the same bleeding pattern as on the previous day’s scan, and the MRI reflected an abnormality, mostly on the left side of the brain, indicating restricted motion of water in the brain tissue. Id. Dr. Zimmerman also observed cells that were injured and swollen. Id. On the February 4 CT scan, Dr. Zimmerman observed the abnormality seen in the earlier MRI, indicating evidence of a brain injury or cell death. Id. The cell damage had not been observable on the January 27 CT scan, but began to appear on the January 28 MRI. Id. Dr. Zimmerman opined that the appearance of bleeding on the left side of J.W.’s brain, and the lesser amount on the right side of the brain, was consistent with traumatic etiology of a recent injury (which he defined as occurring within 24 hours of the first CT scan). Id. Dr. Zimmerman observed no evidence of brain atrophy or prior low blood atoxic ischemic injury, as suggested by Dr. Callery. Id.

On December 5, 2005, the juvenile court adjudicated J.W. a dependent child.

On December 21, 2005, Wantz appeared at the Littlestown Police Department and left a handwritten note purportedly signed by him, which stated as follows:

I, Kelly R. Wantz, confess that on 1-27-05 I did bodily harm to [J.W.] I was alone ... What happened was a[n] accident. [J.W.] kept crying I shook him & threw him down in his crib ... Mother never knew about this.... I can’t live with what I done [sic ].

N.T., 1/25/2008, at 184; Exhibit 13.

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Bluebook (online)
84 A.3d 324, 2014 Pa. Super. 6, 2014 WL 117094, 2014 Pa. Super. LEXIS 7, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-wantz-pa-2014.