Commonwealth of Pa. v. Moto

• Decision Date: 26 May 2011
• Citation: 23 A.3d 989
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellantv.Vincent A. MOTO, Appellee.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

23 A.3d 989

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant

v.Vincent A. MOTO, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Sept. 14, 2010.Decided May 26, 2011.

Hugh J. Burns, Jr., Philadelphia, Michael Lee Erlich, Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Jason Adam Snyderman, Blank Rome, LLP, Philadelphia, for V.A.M.BEFORE: CASTILLE, C.J., SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, TODD, McCAFFERY, ORIE MELVIN, JJ.

OPINION

Justice McCAFFERY.

The Commonwealth appeals from the order of the Superior Court reversing the trial court's denial of the petition filed by Vincent A. Moto (“Appellee”) to expunge his criminal record. Because we hold that the Superior Court erred in reversing the trial court, we now reverse the order of the Superior Court.

In 1987, a jury convicted Appellee of rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, robbery, and criminal conspiracy, following which the court imposed a sentence of 12 to 24 years' imprisonment. These convictions and sentence arose from the following circumstances. Appellee was arrested and charged with the above offenses after the victim, L.Y., saw Appellee walking down the street and recognized him as one of two men who had sexually assaulted and robbed her several months before. At Appellee's trial, L.Y. testified that, while she had been walking home one evening in December 1985, Appellee and another man had forced her into a car at gunpoint and had raped her repeatedly in the car. L.Y. testified further that she had had the opportunity to look closely at her assailants as the assault went on for more than an hour in a well-lit area, and she was unwavering in her identification of Appellee as one of the men who had raped and robbed her. Police artists had made a composite sketch of Appellee and the other assailant based on L.Y.'s descriptions of them; the sketch of Appellee was shown to the jury. In addition, L.Y. testified that after Appellee's arrest and while he was awaiting trial, the other assailant had stopped her at gunpoint on the street, and had threatened her and her children with harm if she were to testify against “Vincent.” In defense, Appellee claimed mistaken identity and proffered an alibi, which the jury rejected, finding him guilty of all counts.

In 1992, Appellee filed a Post Conviction Relief Act ¹ (“PCRA”) petition seeking DNA testing of the panties worn by L.Y. on the night of the assault. The petition was granted, the testing was conducted, and it revealed the presence of DNA from three different men, none of whom could have been Appellee. Based on these findings, in 1995, the PCRA court vacated Appellee's convictions and granted him a new trial. In 1996, the Commonwealth withdrew the charges against Appellee, and an order of nolle prosse was entered. The Commonwealth explained that it could not meet its burden of proof at a second trial because it was unable to locate the victim, who had moved from the area after Appellee's 1987 trial.²

Years later, in 2007, Appellee filed a petition to expunge all records of his arrest, trial, conviction, and sentence for offenses related to the sexual assault and robbery of L.Y. At an expungement hearing on March 5, 2008, the prosecutor summarized the evidence presented against Appellee at his 1987 trial, evidence to which Appellee stipulated as having been presented. The prosecutor then called the assistant district attorney who had prosecuted the 1987 case against Appellee, to the witness stand. He testified that L.Y.'s account of the assault was detailed and consistent and her identification of Appellee was convincing, but that the threats against her and her children had frightened her and caused her to move from the neighborhood. This witness opined that the DNA evidence did not exculpate Appellee because he may not have ejaculated during the rape. Next, the Commonwealth called the assistant district attorney who was the assistant chief of the Family Violence and Sexual Assault Unit in 1996 when Appellee's case was nolle prossed. He testified that the case was nolle prossed because of an inability to locate the victim, but stated that if she had been located, the Commonwealth would have retried Appellee. He also opined that the DNA results did not exonerate Appellee, and offered potential explanations for why the DNA on the victim's underwear did not match Appellee's DNA, i.e., Appellee may not have ejaculated during the rape, and the DNA patterns might reflect prior sexual activity with other partners, particularly since biological stains can remain on clothing for many years, even after laundering. Appellee called only a single witness, a private investigator, who testified that, with a brief search of public databases, he had found several addresses where L.Y. was reported to have lived from 1995–1997, which was close to the time when the Commonwealth claimed it could not locate her.

The trial court denied Appellee's petition to expunge, concluding that the Commonwealth had justified the retention of Appellee's arrest record. Trial Court Opinion, dated 6/30/08 (hereinafter “Trial Court Opinion”), at 4. The trial court cited the strength of the Commonwealth's case against Appellee; the credibility of its witnesses; the fact that Appellee had not been found not guilty; and the public's interest in retaining the arrest record of an individual convicted of a serious crime, such as rape, who is subsequently granted a new trial due to DNA evidence. Id. at 4–5.

Appellee appealed to the Superior Court, where a divided panel held that the trial court had abused its discretion and remanded with instructions to expunge Appellee's record. Commonwealth v. V.A.M., 980 A.2d 131 (Pa.Super.2009). The Superior Court concluded that the Commonwealth had not borne its burden of proof, and, in addition, questioned whether the trial court was in possession of information of record required to conduct an appropriate evaluation of Appellee's petition. Id. at 137.

We accepted the Commonwealth's petition for allowance of review on the following question:

Did Superior Court err in a matter of first impression where a divided panel in a published opinion: (1) reversed the Common Pleas Court and ordered that [Appellee's] criminal record for rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, conspiracy, and related charges be destroyed; (2) denied that the Common Pleas Court had applied the legal standard set forth in its Rule 1925(a) opinion; and (3) ordered expungement on the extraordinary rationale that it did not know whether the Common Pleas Court was aware of the evidence of record.

Commonwealth v. V.A.M., 605 Pa. 467, 991 A.2d 884 (2010).

There is a long-standing right in this Commonwealth to petition for expungement of a criminal arrest record, a right that is an adjunct of due process. Carlacci v. Mazaleski, 568 Pa. 471, 798 A.2d 186, 188 (2002). The decision to grant or deny a petition to expunge rests with the sound discretion of the trial court, and we review that court's decision for abuse of discretion. Commonwealth v. Waughtel, 999 A.2d 623, 624–25 (Pa.Super.2010); Commonwealth v. A.M.R., 887 A.2d 1266, 1268 (Pa.Super.2005).

Judicial analysis and evaluation of a petition to expunge depend upon the manner of disposition of the charges against the petitioner. When an individual has been convicted of the offenses charged, then expungement of criminal history records may be granted only under very limited circumstances that are set forth by statute. 18 Pa.C.S. § 9122; Hunt v. Pennsylvania State Police, 603 Pa. 156, 983 A.2d 627, 633 (2009). When a petitioner has been tried and acquitted of the offenses charged, we have held that the petitioner is “automatically entitled to the expungement of his arrest record.” Commonwealth v. D.M., 548 Pa. 131, 695 A.2d 770, 772–73 (1997). When a prosecution has been terminated without conviction or acquittal, for reasons such as nolle prosse of the charges or the defendant's successful completion of an accelerated rehabilitative disposition program (“ARD”), then this Court has required the trial court to “balance the individual's right to be free from the harm attendant to maintenance of the arrest record against the Commonwealth's interest in preserving such records.” Commonwealth v. Wexler, 431 A.2d 877, 879 (Pa.1981); D.M., supra at 772 (“We reiterate the authority of Wexler and the balancing test approved therein as the means of deciding petitions to expunge the records of all arrests which are terminated without convictions except in cases of acquittals.”).

To aid courts in applying the balancing test for expungement, we also adopted in Wexler the following non-exhaustive list of factors that the court should consider:

These factors include [1] the strength of the Commonwealth's case against the petitioner, [2] the reasons the Commonwealth gives for wishing to retain the records, [3] the petitioner's age, criminal record, and employment history, [4] the length of time that has elapsed between the arrest and the petition to expunge, and [5] the specific adverse consequences the petitioner may endure should expunction be denied.

Wexler, supra at 879 (citation omitted).

We have emphasized that in applying the balancing test and considering the above factors, the court must analyze the particular, specific facts of the case before it. Id. at 880–81. The mere assertion by the Commonwealth of a general interest in maintaining accurate records of those accused of a crime does not outweigh an individual's specific, substantial interest in clearing his or her record. Id. at 881–82.

In addition, Wexler explicitly placed the burden of proof on the Commonwealth. The case against the Wexler appellants had been nolle prossed after the Commonwealth had admitted that it would be unable to sustain its burden of proof at trial. Wexler, supra at 880. Nonetheless, the trial court denied the appellants' petition to expunge their arrest records, and the Superior Court affi...