S.D. v. D.D.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided September 26, 2017·No. 1347 MDA 2016·Unpublished

Opinion

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

S.D. IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Appellee

v.

D.D.

Appellant No. 1347 MDA 2016

Appeal from the Order Entered July 21, 2016 In the Court of Common Pleas of Union County Civil Division at No(s): CV 16-204

BEFORE: SHOGAN, J., OTT, J., and STABILE, J. MEMORANDUM BY OTT, J.: FILED SEPTEMBER 26, 2017 D.D. (“Mother”) appeals from an order entered on July 21, 2016, in the Union County Court of Common Pleas granting the petition by her daughter, S.D. (“Daughter”), for a protection from abuse (“PFA”) 1 order. On appeal, Mother raises the following four issues: (1) whether the trial court erred in not allowing Mother to testify telephonically; (2) whether the court erred in finding that Daughter met her burden of proof; (3) whether the court erred in not allowing certain relevant testimony; and (4) whether the court erred in issuing a protective order for the statutory maximum three years, including a weapons relinquishment order. Based on the following,

we affirm in part and reverse in part.

1 See 23 Pa.C.S. §§ 6101–6122.

The facts and procedural history are as follows. On April 7, 2016, Daughter filed a petition for a PFA order against Mother. Daughter is a 21 year-old resident of Pennsylvania and a student at Bucknell University. The trial court issued a temporary PFA order and scheduled a final PFA order hearing for April 18, 2016. Mother is a California resident and requested a continuance due to the lack of proper service. The court granted her request, and continued the hearing to May 19, 2016. A day before the hearing, Mother again requested another continuance for medical reasons. The court continued the hearing until July 20, 2016. Again, a day before that hearing was scheduled, and due to her medical issues and the cost of travel, Mother requested she be permitted to testify telephonically at the July 20, 2016 hearing. The court denied Mother’s request.

On July 20, 2016, Daughter, Daughter’s counsel, and Mother’s counsel appeared at the hearing. Daughter took the stand and testified to the following incident that took place on March 28, 2016, which precipitated her filing the PFA petition:

Actually, the Monday after Easter in March my class had ended a little early, and I was walking back towards my building when I saw a car get into a small fender bender. I stopped and looked up trying to see who was involved and finding my stepfather driving a car that had backed into another vehicle;

and immediately upon recognizing him, I backed away and saw my mom come out of the passenger’s side and start walking towards me and start screaming, telling me to come see her immediately; that I was in so much trouble; and that I had no right to not be speaking to her and that she was going to come get me. And I was -- turned on my heels immediately and ran away from her.

I ran into an academic building screaming for help.

(Pause.) Sorry. That’s awful. Thank you. And then ran past a professor who kind of got in her way and then out of the building down Fraternity Road, saw a friend from afar and asked him to let me into his building because Bucknell has a pass system --

excuse me -- that let’s [sic] students in and out of buildings.

He unlocked a side door where the stairwell is, and then I caught my breath as I stood there with my backpack and a package I had picked up at the mailroom. And he had to calm me down, tried to see what was going on. And this was in Chi Phi Fraternity; and unbeknownst to me, their doors are unlocked for lunch period. And she had been stalking outside that door while I tried to catch my breath and figure out what to do and had called Public Safety.

She then ran around the building and found a way in, I don’t know how, and found me in the stairwell. And that’s when my friend had backed off; and she grabbed me by the shoulders, pushed me against the door next to where the exit door was.

And I started leaning towards the door to pull away, and she grabbed me back and pushed me against that same wall. Then as I pushed away, she grabbed my sleeve and pulled me basically in opposite directions.

We finally made it outside. She had like ripped my forearm, had hit me in my side; and as I go away, I’m swiping towards my arm. And then by that point, my then best friend had pulled up, found us, and got between her and I. She lunged at him, and I ran away and he then ran away with me.

Then I had called Public Safety and got an officer on the phone, and they met me outside of McDonald’s after she had followed us to McDonald’s and stalked outside the door.

N.T., 7/20/2016, at 5-6. Daughter also said that prior to the March incident, she informed Mother that she no longer wished to have contact with her, and had changed her phone number. Id. at 7. Daughter stated that in response, Mother made threats to Daughter’s friends if they refused to

provide Daughter’s current phone number. Id. at 12. Daughter also discussed prior incidents of Mother’s emotional and physical abuse, including the first time she realized that Mother’s “parenting was not appropriate.” Id. at 8-9.

Following direct examination, Mother’s counsel offered to provide telephonic testimony from a psychologist that Mother was not a danger to Daughter. Id. at 15. The court determined this testimony was not relevant to whether the PFA order should be entered because the focus was on Daughter, and not Mother, and whether Mother had committed acts of abuse as defined by the statute. Id. at 15-16. On cross-examination, the court denied a line of questioning regarding an episode that occurred during Daughter’s sophomore year in high school, in which Mother had thrown Daughter out of the home, instigating custody proceedings between Mother and Daughter’s biological father. Id. at 20-21. Counsel suggested this line of questioning demonstrated that Daughter had run away before and why Mother was justified in showing up at campus unannounced. Id. at 21. The court determined this line of questioning was irrelevant, noting there was no good faith exception to the definition of abuse in the statute. Id. Additionally, counsel tried to introduce text messages allegedly received on a phone Daughter had abandoned at Mother’s home. Id. at 25. The messages were purportedly from Daughter’s classmates requesting to

purchase drugs. Id. at 26. The court determined this evidence was not relevant either. Id.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the court found, based on the testimony provided, Daughter had established by clear and convincing evidence that she was entitled to entry of a final PFA order because Mother’s actions met the criteria for “abuse” under the PFA Act. Id. at 32. A final PFA order was entered that day and is set to expire on July 19, 2019.2 Not only did the order prohibit Mother from having any contact with Daughter, but inter alia, it mandated she was “prohibited from possessing, transferring or acquiring any firearms for the duration of this order.” Order, 7/21/2016, at 3. Mother’s timely appeal followed.3 On appeal, Mother presents the following issues for our review:

1. Whether the trial court erred in not allowing [Mother] testify telephonically?

2. Whether the trial court erred in finding that [Daughter] met her burden of proof?

3. Whether the trial court erred in not allowing relevant testimony?

2 The order was timestamped the following day.

3 Although the trial court did not order Mother to file a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal under Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b), she filed a concise statement on August 15, 2016, the same day she filed her notice of appeal. The court issued an opinion under Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) on September 27, 2016.

4. Whether the trial court erred in issuing a protective order for the statutory maximum three years including a weapons relinquishment order?

Mother’s Brief at 4.

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