Commonwealth v. Haney

• Decision Date: 29 December 2015
• Docket Number: No. 698 CAP,698 CAP
• Citation: 131 A.3d 24
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Patrick Ray HANEY, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

131 A.3d 24

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee

v.Patrick Ray HANEY, Appellant.

No. 698 CAP

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted Feb. 25, 2015.

Decided Dec. 29, 2015.

Jeremy James Davis, Esq., Davis & Davis, Attorneys at Law, Patrick Ray Haney.

Jack Raydan Heneks Jr., Esq., Mark Matthew Mehalov, Esq., Fayette County District Attorney's Office, Amy Zapp, Esq., PA Office of Attorney General, Anthony S. Iannamorelli, Jr., Esq., for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

SAYLOR, C.J., EAKIN, BAER, TODD, STEVENS, JJ.

OPINION

Justice STEVENS.

This is a capital direct appeal from the judgment of sentence imposed after a jury convicted Patrick Ray Haney ("Appellant") of, inter alia, first-degree murder. For the following reasons, we affirm Appellant's conviction and judgment of sentence.¹

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On September 13, 2011, Heather Forsythe ("Forsythe") and Appellant presented at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, West Virginia with Forsythe's four-year-old son, Trenton Lewis St. Clair ("Trenton"). N.T. 3/10/14, jury trial, at 41, 49, 133. When Trenton arrived, he had neither a pulse nor signs of life. N.T. 3/11/14, jury trial at 162–63. Forsythe and Appellant told emergency personnel that Trenton had fallen down a flight of stairs. Id. at 170. Dr. Hollyn Larabee ("Dr. Larabee"), a doctor at Ruby Memorial Hospital's Department of Emergency Management, immediately attempted to resuscitate Trenton and was able to restart his heart four times; however, she was not able to keep the heart beating. Id. at 163. After an hour and twelve minutes of attempting to resuscitate him, Dr. Larabee pronounced Trenton dead. Id. at 164.

At trial, Dr. Larabee testified that it was "immediately evident that the child had been beaten. He was covered in bruises. There was blood around his mouth." Id. at 163. As a result of these observations, Morgantown Children and Youth Services and Morgantown State Police were summoned to the hospital. State Police Troopers James Pierce, Daniel Barnhart, and Charles Morrison arrived at the hospital at approximately 9:55 p.m. and interviewed Dr. Larabee, Forsythe, and Appellant. N.T. 3/10/14, jury trial, at 133–34. Appellant initially told troopers that Trenton had fallen down the stairs at approximately 1:00 a.m. that day and that the child "seemed fine" until approximately 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. that afternoon when he began to throw up and act "funny." Id. at 134–35. Appellant further told troopers that Trenton had fallen off a desk and had fallen off a drawbridge at the park a few days prior to his death. Id. 135.

During her interview with the troopers at the hospital, Forsythe requested to speak with the officers at the police barracks, as she was afraid that Appellant was outside the room listening. Id. at 52, 137. At trial, the Commonwealth introduced text messages Forsythe sent her step-niece as she was being transported to the police barracks which read: "Not good. I'm doing myself in as well as—as soon as I do what I got to do. I have no reason here anymore." Id. at 58. Forsythe continued in another text:

I'm on my way to the police station now. Trenton was beat they told me and that he was choked, that is the reason he is dead, because I would never hurt my baby. I only know that I feel in my heart that the bruises all over him—I would never hurt my baby. He would tell me when he would have a new bruise or something and Pat would say he fell or he was climbing and shit. What else can I say.

Id. at 58–59. Upon arrival at the barracks, Forsythe gave a written statement to police explaining that she had observed Appellant physically abusing Trenton on September 10, 2011. Id. at 54.

The state police transported Appellant to the police barracks, and Trooper Pierce testified that while transporting him, Appellant engaged in conversation with the troopers, speaking about his childhood, where he grew up, and how he met Forsythe. Id. at 136. However, Appellant did not mention Trenton at any point. Id. Once at the barracks, Appellant was placed in an interview room where he sat while the troopers interviewed Forsythe. After Forsythe gave her written statement to police, at approximately 3:30 a.m. Trooper Pierce provided Appellant with his Miranda² rights, which Appellant acknowledged. Id. at 137–38. Trooper Pierce then informed Appellant that Trenton was deceased and asked if he knew how it had happened, to which Appellant responded that Trenton had fallen down the steps. Id. at 141.

Trooper Pierce explained to Appellant that Dr. Larabee had indicated she believed that Trenton's injuries were caused by abuse, not by multiple falls, and the trooper provided Appellant with a copy of Forsythe's written statement. Id. At trial, Trooper Pierce testified that upon reading Forsythe's statement, Appellant "dropped his head and he appeared to start crying. I asked [Appellant] if he ever struck Trenton and he replied that he struck Trenton on the back of the head and slapped him across the face." Id. 142. When asked why he would strike Trenton, Appellant replied that Trenton wouldn't listen and that the slaps were meant to discipline him, not to hurt him. Id. When Trooper Pierce questioned whether Appellant felt remorse for Trenton's death, Appellant replied, "[o]f course I feel remorse, he was only four years of age." Id. Appellant was charged with first-degree murder³ and child endangerment.^{4 , 5}

At trial, Forsythe testified that in early September of 2011, she and Trenton were living in a home on Morgantown Road in Point Marion with Appellant and his father, Patrick Ray Haney, Sr. Id. at 41. In the first few weeks of September, Forsythe began noticing bruises on Trenton's body. When Forsythe questioned Appellant about the origin of the bruises, Appellant "would say he fell, or he was climbing, or fell, or running, tripped, whatever." Id. at 42–43. In the week leading up to Trenton's death, Forsythe noticed the bruises were increasing in number, but Appellant would again provide similar explanations for the injuries. Id. at 43.

On September 10, 2011, Forsythe arrived home after attending a funeral, "heard a ruckus upstairs" and observed Appellant standing above Trenton. Appellant was hitting, slapping, and kicking Trenton, while the child cried. Id. at 44. Forsythe testified that the incident left red marks on Trenton's body. Id. at 45. In the days after this attack, Trenton complained of a stomach ache. Forsythe testified that during this time Appellant would not allow her to leave the home or make any phone calls. Id. at 45–46.

On September 13, 2011, Trenton's condition worsened and he began vomiting. Forsythe testified she sent a text message to Appellant around 4:00 p.m. that day that read:

My son has bruising all over him. He can't keep even water down or food. I can't take him to the doctor. I am a piece of shit mother. I can't even say how these bruises got there and I'm not going to take and lose him because of him [sic].

Id. at 48.⁶ Shortly thereafter, Appellant agreed to take Trenton to the hospital, but did not allow Forsythe to call 911, claiming that he could get them there faster. While driving to the hospital, Appellant repeatedly told Forsythe he was sorry and that he was going to go to jail. Id. at 49. During the drive, Forsythe and Appellant decided to tell the hospital staff that Trenton had fallen. Id. at 50. Trenton stopped breathing on the way to the hospital, and Forsythe attempted to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation("CPR") in the car. Id. at 48.

The Commonwealth presented testimony from Dr. Matrina Schmidt ("Dr. Schmidt"), whom both parties accepted as an expert in the field of Forensic Pathology, regarding her autopsy of Trenton. Dr. Schmidt recited Trenton's injuries as follows:

On the forehead, in the face, there were contusions. There [were] contusions on the forehead, there [was] a contusion below the right eye, there were contusions on the right jaw line extending onto the neck, there were contusions on the left cheek, the left face, the left jaw line, and also on the left side of the neck. There were contusions on the chest, the abdomen, there were contusions on the backand the buttocks and there were contusions on the right and left arms and right and left legs.

Id. at 83. Dr. Schmidt continued to explain that contusions are considered bruises, and that some of the many bruises on Trenton's body were circular in nature and consistent with finger impressions. Id. at 84. The Commonwealth showed Dr. Schmidt pictures taken of Trenton prior to the autopsy and asked that Dr. Schmidt explain the external injuries portrayed in each picture. Id. at 84–89.

Dr. Schmidt testified to the findings she made during her internal examination. Specifically, Dr. Schmidt explained that the internal examination revealed a deep scalp hemorrhage, an exudate on the small intestines, a contusion on the small intestine, a hematomaon the right side of the abdomen, and acute inflammation of the small intestines, large intestines, and bladder. Id. at 91–93. Dr. Schmidt further testified that she found "early formation of fibroblast formation, fibroblast coming in a form of supporting membrane" in some of Trenton's injuries, which is a sign of healing. Id. at 93–94. Dr. Schmidt further explained that "the hematomathat was found in the abdominal cavity occurred at a different time than the peritonitisor the exudate that I saw, observed on the intestines." Id. at 94. Dr. Schmidt testified that Trenton would have been experiencing lethargy, a fever, nausea, vomiting and severe abdominal pain due to the peritonitis. Id. at 95.

Dr. Schmidt testified she determined Trenton's death to be caused by "peritonitisdue to closed abdominal injurydue to battery," and although she could not rule out a fall down the steps as the cause of the peritonitis, the injuries that she observed on Trenton were not consistent with injuries that would be found on a four-year-old child who had fallen. Id. at 96, 101. Dr. Schmidt explained,...