Com. v. Geiger

• Decision Date: 26 February 2008
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Candice GEIGER, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

944 A.2d 85

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Candice GEIGER, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted November 5, 2007.

Filed February 26, 2008.

David S. Rudenstein, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Hugh J. Burns, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., for Com., appellee.

BEFORE: KLEIN, BENDER and POPOVICH, JJ.

OPINION BY POPOVICH, J.:

¶ 1 Appellant Candice Geiger appeals the judgment of sentence for third degree murder and criminal conspiracy¹ on grounds that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the verdicts; and her constitutional right of confrontation was denied when the trial court permitted child witnesses to testify by way of videotape. We affirm.

¶ 2 The factual and procedural history of this case reveals that in the fall of 2002, Appellant's sister (co-defendant TB) left her four children (AB-1, age 10; AB-2, age 6; PB-1, age 4; and PB-2, age 3) in the custody of Appellant and co-defendant Jerry Chambers. Appellant and Chambers thereafter physical and sexually assaulted the young girls on a regular basis, which abuse culminated with the death of PB-2 while in the care and custody of Appellant and Chambers on the 17th day of August, 2002.

¶ 3 The events leading up to PB-2's murder were detailed in the trial court's opinion; to-wit:

[Appellant] and her boyfriend, Jerry Chambers, a named co-defendant [ ... ] lived in an apartment located at 1705 South 5th Street in the [C]ity and [C]ounty of Philadelphia. (N.T. 5/3/05, pg. 111). [TB], also a named co-defendant [...], the mother of [AB-1, AB-2, PB-1, and PB-2], left her daughters in the care of Chambers in the [f]all of 2002. Id. For a brief period, [TB] would drop her children off at Chambers['] apartment in the morning, and return later in the evening to pick them up. (N.T. 5/12/05, pgs. 135-136). Initially, she paid Chambers a nominal amount to care for the children. (N.T. 5/3/05, pg. 112). Prior to Thanksgiving of 2002, Chambers suggested to [TB] that the children should stay overnight with him. (N.T. 5/12/05, pgs. 135-136). After this arrangement began, [TB's] interaction with the children became more infrequent. (N.T. 5/12/05, pages 135-136). Ultimately, [TB] did not see her children at all between Easter of 2003 and the date of these incidents, August 17, 2003. ([N.T.] 5/12/05, pg. 138).

Sometime during this period, [Appellant], [TB's] sister, moved in with Chambers. (N.T. 5/3/05, pgs. 70-72).[TB] was initially unaware of this relationship and at no time did [TB] ever discuss her daughters and their care with Chambers or [Appellant]. (N.T. 5/13/05, pgs. 70-72). When [TB] learned that her sister lived with Chambers, [Appellant] told her not to let any family members know that she lived at the apartment. (N.T. 5/13/05, pgs. 7[0]-71). On numerous occasions, Chambers would pack [Appellant's] clothes, walk her to the door and try to make her leave. (N.T. 5/13/05, pg. 14). On each occasion, [Appellant] refused to leave the apartment. Id.

Chambers, [Appellant] and the girls lived in deplorable conditions. The apartment consisted of two bedrooms, a bathroom, living area and a kitchen. (N.T. 5/3/05, pgs. 30-32). The girls slept in the same small bedroom as Chambers and [Appellant] on a dirty mattress on the floor placed in a corner of the room. Id. The overwhelming stench of urine permeated the entire dwelling. (N.T. 5/3/05, pg. 15). The apartment was "absolutely filthy and your feet stuck to the floor as you walked through the apartment." Id. at 17. The apartment was "fly infested," and numerous dead cockroaches lay scattered on the floor. Id.

A child's potty chair sat in the kitchen filled with urine and fecal matter. Id. Two pit bulls also lived in the apartment. (N.T. 5/5/05, pg 111). An interior door to the bedroom was nailed shut from the inside, which prevented any exit from the room. Next to the door was a window that was completely covered in dark plastic. Id.

Chambers regularly beat [AB-1, AB-2, PB-1, and PB-2], with an extension cord, a metal pole, belt buckles, and a broomstick. (N.T. 4/20/05, pgs. 22-24, 39). Chambers also beat [AB-1] more than once with his bare fists — repeatedly punching her until her eyes were swollen shut. (N.T. 4/20/05, pg. 24). The results of the beatings were so obvious that when the children were permitted outside or if anyone visited, Chambers ordered them to cover their faces and bodies to hide the severe bruising. (N.T. 4/20/05, pg[s]. 26, 33). Inexplicably, [AB-1] and [PB-1] were beaten more often than the other two girls. (N.T. 4/20/05, pg. 38). At various times, each of the children were [sic] locked in the basement with Chamber's pit bulls. (N.T. 5/5/05, pgs. 111-112). The girls were terrified of the dogs. Id. at 155. The children were fed sporadically and inconsistently. (N.T. 4/20/05, pg. 24). It was not uncommon for one or more of the girls to be forced to eat "dog poop" out of the dog's food bowl. (N.T. 4/20/05, pgs. 11-12, 25).

[Appellant] was an active participant in the abuse of the children. [Appellant] would beat any of the girls when they "did something wrong — may be every other day[.]" (N.T. 5/3/05, pg. 116). [Appellant] and Chambers would smack, punch, and kick the girls. Id. [Appellant] also invited unknown men into the apartment through the back door while the girls were home, but while Chambers was out. (N.T. 5/13/05, pgs. 10-11).

On the night [PB-2] died, August 17, 2003, [Appellant] forced her to eat a sandwich by smacking her face and repeatedly hitting her in the stomach with a belt. (N.T. 5/3/05, pgs. 113-114). Later that night, [Appellant] and Chambers watched pornographic movies in the young girls' presence. (N.T. 4/22/04, pgs. 45-46). [Appellant] told [AB-2] to later tell the police following [PB-2's] death that they were all watching a children's video. Id. Sometime after midnight that same evening, Chambers and [Appellant] were having sex. (N.T. 5/3/05, pg. 115). Chambers told [PB-2] to stop watching them, but when she did not comply, Chambers called her over to his bed and hit her with an extension cord and smacked her in the face multiple times. (N.T. 4/22/05, pgs. 38-39; 5/3/05, pgs. 114-115). [Appellant] told Chambers to throw [PB-2] against the wall. (N.T. 4/22/05, pg. 40). [AB-2] watched as Chambers grabbed [PB-2] by the feet and threw her across the room. [PB-2] struck her head on the radiator and slid down the wall. (N.T. 4/22/05, pgs. 40-41).

[PB-2] was pronounced dead on arrival at Methodist Hospital. (N.T. 5/2/05, p[g]. 13). [AB-1] was found hiding on the second floor of the building. A towel covering her head with both her eyes swollen shut. (N.T. 5/4/05, pgs. 18-23). The surviving girls were taken to the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia to be treated for their injuries. (N.T. 4/20/05, pgs. 16-18).

Trial court opinion, 3/19/07, at 2-5.

¶ 4 Appellant and her co-defendants were arrested, tried jointly, and found guilty of the above-stated offenses.² Appellant was sentenced to serve an aggregate term of 17 to 34 years imprisonment. This appeal followed raising two questions for our review; to-wit:

I. Is [Appellant] entitled to an arrest of judgment on the charges of Murder in the Third Degree and Criminal Conspiracy where the Commonwealth did not prove those charges beyond a reasonable doubt and where there is not sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict?

II. Is [Appellant] entitled to a new trial as the result of [c]ourt error where the [trial c]ourt abused its discretion and erred as a matter of law when it permitted a then alleged child witness to testify via videotape, thus depriving [Appellant] of her right of confrontation, all in violation of the United States Constitution [and] the Pennsylvania Constitution [...]?

Appellant's brief, at 3.

¶ 5 Appellant's initial challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence requires that we view the evidence, and all reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom, in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth in deciding whether the evidence was sufficient to establish each element of the crimes beyond a reasonable doubt. Commonwealth v. McNair, 529 Pa. 368, 371, 603 A.2d 1014 (1992).

¶ 6 Moreover, "`[w]hen conflicts and discrepancies arise, it is within the province of the jury to determine the weight to be given to each [witness's] testimony and to believe all, part, or none of the evidence as [it] deems appropriate.'" Commonwealth v. Wright, 722 A.2d 157, 161 (Pa.Super.1998) (quoting Commonwealth v. Verdekal, 351 Pa.Super. 412, 506 A.2d 415, 419 (1986)).

¶ 7 To convict an accused of third degree murder, the Commonwealth must prove that the accused killed another person with malice. Commonwealth v. Hardy, 918 A.2d 766, 774 (Pa.Super.2007).

The elements of third degree murder, as developed by case law, are a killing done with legal malice but without specific intent to kill required in first degree murder. Malice is the essential element of third degree murder, and is the distinguishing factor between murder and manslaughter.

Commonwealth v. Cruz-Centeno, 447 Pa.Super. 98, 668 A.2d 536, 539 (1995), allocatur denied, 544 Pa. 653, 676 A.2d 1195 (1996).

¶ 8 Malice under the law "comprehends not only a particular ill-will, but every case where there is wickedness of disposition, hardness of heart, cruelty, recklessness of consequences, and a mind regardless of social duty, although a particular person may not be intending to be injured." Commonwealth v. Thomas, 527 Pa. 511, 514, 594 A.2d 300 (1991). "Malice may be inferred from the `attending circumstances of the act resulting in death.'" Commonwealth v. Lee, 426 Pa.Super. 345, 626 A.2d 1238, 1241 (1993) (quoting Commonwealth v. Gardner, 490 Pa. 421, 424, 416 A.2d 1007 (1980)). Otherwise stated, malice may be found where the defendant has consciously disregarded an unjustified and extremely high risk that her conduct might cause death or serious injury to another. Commonwealth v. Young, 494 Pa. 224, 228, 431 A.2d 230 (1981).

¶ 9 To convict of...