In the Interest of: K.E.N. Appeal of: K.E.N.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 6, 2024
Docket638 WDA 2023
StatusUnpublished

This text of In the Interest of: K.E.N. Appeal of: K.E.N. (In the Interest of: K.E.N. Appeal of: K.E.N.) 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
In the Interest of: K.E.N. Appeal of: K.E.N., (Pa. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

J-A09023-24

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT O.P. 65.37

IN THE INTEREST OF: K.E.N., A : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MINOR : PENNSYLVANIA : : APPEAL OF: K.E.N. : : : : : No. 638 WDA 2023

Appeal from the Dispositional Order Entered May 5, 2023 In the Court of Common Pleas of Warren County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-62-JV-0000039-2022

BEFORE: DUBOW, J., KUNSELMAN, J., and NICHOLS, J.

MEMORANDUM BY KUNSELMAN, J.: FILED: June 6, 2024

Appellant, 13-year-old K.E.N., appeals from the dispositional order

following his delinquency adjudication of indecent assault (complainant less

than 13 years of age).1 Appellant argues that the Commonwealth’s failure to

allege the date of the offense with sufficient particularity prevented him from

mounting a proper defense, thereby violating his right to due process.

Separately, Appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. After careful

review, we affirm.

The record discloses the following factual and procedural history.

Appellant was approximately 12 years old at the time of the incident. He

resided with his mother and his mother’s roommate in the bottom floor of a

two-bedroom duplex. The complainant, O.W., is Appellant’s cousin. The

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1 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3126(a)(7). J-A09023-24

complainant had just turned 4 years old at the time of the incident. In the

time leading up to the incident, the complainant’s family visited Appellant’s

home fairly often. Appellant’s mother is the aunt of the complainant’s mother.

The complainant’s mother was friends with the roommate, as well. The

complainant’s other family members consisted of her father and younger

sister.

The assault occurred in Appellant’s bedroom. Appellant’s bedroom was

connected to both the living room and the kitchen. While there was a door

between Appellant’s bedroom and the kitchen, there was apparently no door

between Appellant’s bedroom and the living room; instead, a flag was draped

over the threshold.

In February or March 2022, Appellant was in his bedroom with the

complainant and the complainant’s younger sister. Appellant’s mother and

the complainant’s mother were in the kitchen; the door between the kitchen

and Appellant’s bedroom was closed. The complainant’s father was on the

couch in the living room, scrolling through his phone. The roommate was in

her room. No other people were there.

According to the complainant, Appellant pulled down her pants and

touched her “kookaburra” (the term she used for vagina) “inside her

underwear,” with his fingers. See N.T., 2/16/203, at 12, 14-15.2 The

2 As discussed below, the juvenile court inquired into the complainant’s competency. Afterward, the Commonwealth moved to qualify her as a competent witness, and Appellant’s counsel did not object. See N.T. at 9.

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complainant could see her father “under the curtain” in the living room, which

we take to mean that she saw him underneath the flag separating the two

rooms. Id. at 21. The complainant said that there was a noise and her father

“flew into the bedroom;” the father later testified that he went into the room

after he heard the complainant say “my pants” in a distressed tone. Id. at

17. The complainant said that Appellant already pulled her pants back up by

the time the father entered the bedroom. The father observed them about

five feet apart and fully clothed. The father decided it was time to leave, and

the complainant, her sister, and her mother left the house soon thereafter.

Id. at 31.

The complainant’s father did not tell her mother about the incident for

several months – until June or July 2020 – and only after her mother

mentioned that the complainant’s behavior was out of the ordinary. The

complainant’s mother had been bathing the complainant alongside her sister.

After the bath, the sisters wrestled around, but were still naked. The mother

said something “like, [‘]we don’t touch private areas, let’s get some underwear

on,[’] and [the complainant] closed down.” Id. at 49. The complainant was

upset, and her mother asked if somebody touched her there. The complainant

was silent, so her mother began naming males who could have been in close

contact. The list began with Appellant, and then Uncle [V.], Uncle [M.], Uncle

[S.], and Uncle [J.]. The complainant said no to the uncles. When her mother

again asked whether Appellant touched her, the complainant said yes and

demonstrated where. Id. at 52. When her mother brought this to the

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attention of her father, a “lightbulb went off in his head” and he remembered

the incident where he heard complainant say “my pants” from Appellant’s

bedroom. Id. at 54.

The precise date of the incident is unknown, as was the exact date of

the disclosure. See id. at 42-43. In any event, the complainant’s mother

said she told the police that the incident happened in either November 2021

or February 2022. Id. at 69. However, the charging information alleged that

the offense took place “on or about March 2022.”

In August 2022, Warren Police filed a writ of allegation and eventually a

petition alleging delinquency. The petition indicated that the date of the

offense was July 2022 (which was when the police were first contacted), but

the writ indicated that the incident occurred “on or about March 2022.” In

October 2022, a notice of juvenile adjudication was scheduled. After several

continuances, the court held the adjudicatory hearing on February 16, 2023.

The juvenile court adjudicated Appellant delinquent, but it deferred disposition

until Appellant completed a psychosexual evaluation. The court held a

dispositional hearing on May 4, 2023, and placed him on intensive supervision

for a period of time not to exceed five years.

Appellant timely filed this appeal, and he presents the following issues

for our review:

1. Whether [Appellant’s] right to due process, guaranteed by both the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article I, § 9 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, were violated by the

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Commonwealth’s failure to fix within a reasonable certainty the date of the alleged offense?

2. Whether the evidence was insufficient to support [Appellant’s] adjudication of delinquency beyond a reasonable doubt as the Commonwealth failed to prove [that Appellant was] the perpetrator of the alleged offense beyond a reasonable doubt?

Appellant’s Brief at 3 (style adjusted)

We begin with Appellant’s first issue. A question regarding whether a

due process violation occurred is a question of law for which the standard of

review is de novo and the scope of review is plenary. Commonwealth v.

Tejada, 161 A.3d 313, 317 (Pa. Super. 2017) (citing Commonwealth v.

Smith, 131 A.3d 467, 472 (Pa. 2015)).

It is the duty of the prosecution to “fix the date when an alleged offense

occurred with reasonable certainty….” Commonwealth v. Brooks, 7 A.3d

852, 857-58 (Pa. Super. 2010) (citation omitted). “The purpose of so advising

a defendant of the date when an offense is alleged to have been committed is

to provide him with sufficient notice to meet the charges and prepare a

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Related

Commonwealth v. Devlin
333 A.2d 888 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1975)
Commonwealth v. Gibbons
784 A.2d 776 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Commonwealth v. Brooks
7 A.3d 852 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Commonwealth v. Smith, W., Aplt.
131 A.3d 467 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Levy
23 A.2d 97 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1941)
Commonwealth v. Tejada
161 A.3d 313 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
In the Interest of: D.J.B., Appeal of: D.J.B.
2020 Pa. Super. 45 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2020)

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