Commonwealth v. Taylor

Decision Date19 May 2020
Docket NumberNo. 29 MAP 2019,29 MAP 2019
Parties COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Nazeer TAYLOR, Appellant
CourtPennsylvania Supreme Court
OPINION

JUSTICE WECHT

This appeal asks whether a minor's Fifth Amendment privilege against compulsory self-incrimination was violated when a juvenile court granted the Commonwealth's request to have a delinquency matter transferred to an adult court for criminal prosecution, based in part upon the minor's decision not to admit culpability to the delinquent acts alleged. We hold that it was.

I.

The events that formed the basis of Nazeer Taylor's prosecution occurred between July 2012 and August 2013, when he was fifteen years old. In March 2014, the Commonwealth filed a delinquency petition alleging that Taylor committed numerous delinquent acts purportedly stemming from recurring incidents of sexual assault of his then-eleven-year-old foster brother, A.O. Pursuant to Section 6355 of the Juvenile Act, 42 Pa.C.S. § 6355, the Commonwealth petitioned the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County, Juvenile Court Division, to transfer the delinquency petition to the adult division for criminal prosecution.

A two-day certification hearing commenced on April 2, 2014, before the Honorable Joseph A. Smyth. At the hearing, A.O. testified that Taylor orally and anally sodomized him on several occasions when A.O. was in sixth grade, resulting in chronic physical damage and severe mental anguish. Notes of Testimony ("N.T."), 4/2/2014, at 6-77. The boys’ foster mother also described a number of discrete episodes that piqued her suspicions that Taylor might have engaged in improper behavior with A.O. Id. at 77-112. In light of this testimony, the juvenile court found that the Commonwealth had established a prima facie case that Taylor had committed the delinquent acts alleged in the petition. Id. at 114-15. Due to Taylor's prior delinquency adjudication for burglary, a first-degree felony, the burden shifted to the defense to establish that transfer would not serve the public interest. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 6355(g).1

The hearing was continued to April 25, 2014, for Taylor's rebuttal. To substantiate Taylor's claim that he was amenable to treatment in the juvenile system, the defense offered the expert testimony of Dr. Nicole Machinski, a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in forensic assessment, including the identification and treatment of juvenile sex offenders. N.T. 4/25/2014, at 4, 9. Based upon her evaluation of Taylor and her review of the underlying record, Dr. Machinski opined that Taylor "could certainly be treated" in the three years he had remaining "under the purview of the juvenile justice system" through either an outpatient or residential treatment program, which average "about 12 months" in length. Id. at 21-22. Upon cross-examination, the Commonwealth challenged Taylor's amenability to treatment by, inter alia , invoking the fact that Taylor had neither admitted to the delinquent act nor affirmatively taken responsibility for his actions. Specifically, the Commonwealth suggested that Taylor was "in denial" of his need for treatment, prompting a defense objection, which the court sustained. Id. at 44. The Commonwealth subsequently posited that "the first step in sex offender treatment [is] admitting guilt," id. at 58, and, after the close of evidence, reiterated its view that Taylor was "in denial" and that an "admission" would be necessary for treatment to work in this case. Id. at 109.

The juvenile court agreed with the Commonwealth that Taylor was not amenable to treatment within the juvenile system, certified the matter to adult criminal court, and contemporaneously offered the following rationale in support of its ruling:

I think one of the Commonwealth's arguments is that the defendant has been in treatment for almost every issue that the defendant's expert has identified and, notwithstanding that treatment, within six months committed a series of forcible rapes, which is much more serious than the issue he was in treatment for.
I think the defense expert makes a distinction, and so does the defendant -- or they make a good point, not necessarily a distinction -- when they say, look, the sex offense is totally different than the burglary. And because someone was successful in a burglary, that's not at all related to the sexual offense, and he never really got treatment for the sexual offense. That's basically the argument as I understand it.
And I don't necessarily disagree with that, but then I think the defense expert becomes a little bit inconsistent and sort of goes back and forth where she counters that particular Commonwealth with [sic ] you can't compare these other matters to a sex offense, but then she goes back and forth and says but because he did well in treatment in the other matters, he will do well for treatment as a sex offender. So in one sense, she tries to separate the two, and then in another sense, she tries to blend the two, and I find that testimony to be inconsistent.
I think another dilemma or conundrum for the defense is that's their approach, he's had an unfortunate upbringing, through no fault of his own. To a [ ] certain extent, he is antisocial and damaged, and that's not his fault. But is he so damaged that he can't be rehabilitated for a sex offender, or can he be rehabilitated for a sex offender? And I think part of the dilemma is they don't distinguish sex offenders from burglary, so now they blend their argument and say because he's done well in the first, he can do well in the second.
And they won't admit that he's committed the sex offense, and that's sort of their conundrum, because time is of the essence . He's approaching 18 years old. The act -- you can argue degree of sophistication all you want, but it was a predatory damaging act that occurred repeatedly over a 1-year period of time.
If you're going to go on the sex offenders’ treatment, it's important that you admit, No. 1 ; examine your triggers, No. 2; talk about how you can avoid your triggers; and identify up-front the depth of the problem. And here, we can't identify the depth of the problem largely because we're not admitting yet that there is a problem.
What if he were to sit there for a year and a half before he finally admitted that he did something? I mean, I assume he's still denying. Counsel's arguments have been phrased "if this is true, it's a horrendous act."
They made a distinction when he denied, when he said to Dr. Buxbaum -- I believe he was a psychiatrist -- "I didn't do anything wrong." Counsel said now he wants to say he participates in treatment and defense counsel argued, well, maybe the treatment's not talking about sex offenders’ treatment. And that's the very issue, though, is he amenable to sex offenders’ treatment? And, in the juvenile system, time is running out. As I said, there is only a few years left, and the depth -- and if he doesn't make sufficient progress, he's 21, he's back on the streets, and he's released from the jurisdiction of the Court with no supervision at all. That's the dilemma.
And when Dr. Machinski in her report indicates the issues that he needs treatment in and the Commonwealth argues, well, none of this has to do with amenability within the statute, well, it might, when you have four other categories. It would certainly refer to amenability for a crime that's much less serious than this. But I don't know that it means anything with regard to somebody who's committed the type of act that he's alleged to have committed.
So for all the reasons in the statute as enumerated by [the Commonwealth] and because it's the defense burden of proof, I'm going to grant the Commonwealth's motion to certify him to adult court. Thank you.

Id. at 112-15 (emphasis added).

Following certification, from June 20-21, 2016, Taylor was tried before a jury, with the Honorable William R. Carpenter presiding. At the conclusion of trial, the jury found Taylor guilty of rape of a child and some related crimes. On January 31, 2017, the court sentenced Taylor to an aggregate term of ten to twenty-five years’ imprisonment, followed by ten years’ probation. Taylor appealed his judgment of sentence.

In an unpublished decision, the Superior Court affirmed. Commonwealth v. Taylor , 856 EDA 2017, 2018 WL 4290127 (Pa. Super. Sept. 10, 2018). Relevant here, Taylor asserted that the juvenile court violated his Fifth Amendment privilege against compulsory self-incrimination when deciding whether to transfer the matter by relying substantially upon Taylor's refusal to admit to the alleged offenses. The panel noted that "[a]lthough Taylor did not raise this claim in his [Pa.R.A.P.] 1925(b) statement, he did not waive it. Whether certification is proper is a question of jurisdiction, which cannot be waived." Id. at *5 (citing Commonwealth v. Johnson , 542 Pa. 568, 669 A.2d 315, 320 (1995) ("[T]he decision to transfer a case between the juvenile and criminal divisions in jurisdictional.")). Turning to the merits, the court acknowledged that it previously had held that the privilege against self-incrimination applied in decertification proceedings, which require the same amenability-to-treatment analysis for juvenile defendants.2 In Commonwealth v. Brown , 26 A.3d 485 (Pa. Super. 2011), a homicide case involving an eleven-year-old appellant, the panel reversed an order denying decertification because the trial court relied upon the Commonwealth's expert witness, who had testified that Brown needed to admit guilt in order to prove his amenability to treatment in the juvenile system. The Superior Court reasoned that, by holding Brown's failure to incriminate himself against him, the court violated his Fifth Amendment privilege. Id. at 510.

Here, the juvenile court similarly "referenced Taylor's failure to admit guilt and that admission was a step in sex offender treatment." Taylor , 2018 WL 4290127 at *6. Citing Brown , the Superior Court...

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4 cases
  • Commonwealth v. Cosby
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
    • June 30, 2021
    ...the centrality of the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination in the American concept of ordered liberty in Commonwealth v. Taylor , 230 A.3d 1050 (Pa. 2020). There, we noted that certain rights, such as those enshrined in the Fifth Amendment, are among those privileges "whose exerc......
  • Commonwealth v. Rivera
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
    • June 21, 2023
    ...... Barry , 454 A.2d 985, 987 (Pa. 1982) (summarizing a. juvenile appellant's argument that the waiver of his. Miranda rights was not voluntary). . . [ 5 ] Commonwealth v. Cosby , 252 A.3d. 1092, 1139 (Pa. 2021) (citing Commonwealth v. Taylor , 230 A.3d 1050 (Pa. 2020)). . . [ 6 ] Michael Hor, The Privilege Against. Self Incrimination and Fairness to the Accused , Sing. J. Legal Stud. 35 (1993). The author offers the following with. regard to the privilege against self-incrimination:. . . ......
  • Commonwealth v. Coleman, No. 24 EAP 2019
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
    • May 19, 2020
  • Commonwealth v. Taylor
    • United States
    • Superior Court of Pennsylvania
    • July 29, 2021
    ...harmless error doctrine is applicable here, and if it is not or if the error is not harmless, for consideration of the available relief. Id. at 1073. received supplemental advocacy from the parties, we now conclude that the juvenile court's violation of Taylor's Fifth Amendment privilege co......

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