Goldy v. Commonwealth
| Docket Number | 0557-22-2 |
| Decision Date | 01 August 2023 |
| Parties | PATRICK D. GOLDY v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA |
| Court | Virginia Court of Appeals |
FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF LOUISA COUNTY Timothy K. Sanner, Judge.
(Reed C. Amos; Amos & Amos, PLLC, on brief), for appellant. Appellant submitting on brief.
Matthew J. Beyrau, Assistant Attorney General (Jason S Miyares, Attorney General, on brief), for appellee.
Present: Ortiz, Chaney, and Haley, Senior Judge Argued at Richmond, Virginia
This case involves the sexual abuse of a nine-year old girl (the child) by a member of her extended family. Relying on the sharply contrasting accounts of the child's family members and some inconsistencies between her trial testimony and prior reports, Patrick D. Goldy challenges his convictions for two counts of aggravated sexual battery against a victim less than 13 years old. Goldy argues that the child's account was inherently incredible, a circumstance which "fatally undermined the convictions." We affirm the convictions because the jury, whom the law entrusts to resolve such conflicts reasonably credited the child's account.
BACKGROUND[1]
On June 23, 2020, then 26-year old Goldy moved into the Louisa County home of his foster-sister, Ashley Elder, and her husband Scott. During June and July 2020, Ashley babysat the child and the child's younger siblings in her home while their mother, Ashley's sister-in-law,[2] was at work. Ashley worked remotely from her home office, and the child's mother felt that Ashley was able to supervise and provide for her "very" "independent" children. It was uncontested that Ashley's home office was situated so that she could only see into the living room and kitchen if she stood in the doorway. Ashley had instructed the children not to interrupt her while she worked. Given Ashley's work obligations, it was "common" for the child to be in Goldy's company unattended, either in the living room or kitchen.
On September 3, 2020, the child tearfully reported to her mother that Goldy had fondled her buttocks and vagina the last time she had been at Ashley's home, sometime in July 2020. The child's mother called Ashley and Scott to advise of the child's report and then she called the police.
A sheriff's deputy went to the family home on the night of the report. Detective Mills took over as lead investigator in the case on September 6, 2020. Detective Mills interviewed the mother and attended the child's forensic interview on September 14, 2020. Detective Mills called Goldy, who was then in Florida, and asked him to return to Virginia for an interview. Goldy told Detective Mills that he did not have money and that he would return when he received his Social Security check in early October. Goldy did not return as promised, and his attorney subsequently contacted Detective Mills and told him not to speak with his client. Goldy was arrested in March 2021 and did not return to Virginia until June 2021. A grand jury indicted Goldy for two counts of aggravated sexual battery.
At Goldy's jury trial, the child testified that she initially enjoyed staying at Ashley's house and considered Goldy her friend. She recalled that Goldy was with her and her siblings "most of the time" because Ashley was in her office working. The children were not permitted to talk to Ashley when she was on the phone, which was often. Instead, Goldy played with the children or watched television with them; sometimes he made them lunch.
On the last day that Ashley was babysitting the children before they changed daycare arrangements, Goldy came and sat next to the child on the living room couch. Goldy then "put his hands" down the child's pants "in the back of [her] underwear, and he touched [her] in [the] bottom of [her] crack." The child turned over. Goldy remarked, "[O]h, no, something is happening" and moved a blanket away to reveal "his private" "sticking up" under his shorts. The child recounted that Goldy then "put his hands in the front of my pants and my underwear, and he started to feel around . . . where I go to the bathroom." The touching lasted for about ten seconds until the child "kicked" Goldy, got up from the couch, and went into the kitchen. She did not tell Ashley what Goldy had done because Ashley was on the phone and the child was scared. The child reported the abuse to her mother on September 3, 2020.
The family had been close and "did everything together" before the child's disclosure. The child's mother had helped Goldy move into Ashley's home, and she also "spent a lot of time" in the home. It was common for Goldy to be in the living room or the kitchen with her children unattended. The mother explained her expectations of Ashley while she was babysitting were that the children would be "fed and safe," supervised "to some extent" and that Ashley would not leave the children in the home alone with Goldy. She considered that the children were being supervised even while Ashley was in her home office but noted that Ashley "can't see through walls." The mother stated that the children were not locked in a room on their own and she would not have agreed to such an arrangement. The mother considered her children "safe" if they had toys or the television to occupy them. The children stopped going to Ashley's house at the end of July because she did not have the capacity to homeschool them, so the mother made different childcare arrangements.
In August 2020, the family went to the beach together. Several family members had to direct the child to stop jumping on Goldy after he asked her to stop. The family, including the child, also attended a rally called "Freedom for Children" in August, where people spoke about child sex abuse and trafficking. The child was playing on the playground with her siblings while the speakers presented. At trial, the child did not recall what the speakers had said.
The child reported Goldy's actions to her mother in September after she was told that her mother had to work late the following evening, so the children would go to Ashley's house and their mother would pick them up. The child approached her mother and said that she did not want to go to Ashley's house. When asked why she did not want to go to Ashley's house, the child told her mother that Goldy had touched her the last week she had been at Ashley's house. The child was "very upset," "crying and hysterical." As the mother recalled, the child reported that Goldy "touched her" in "the back" first and then "touched her in the front" "[u]nder her underwear." He also commented to the effect of "look what's happening" while looking at his crotch.
In his defense, Goldy called Mayra Cardenas, from the Foothills Child Advocacy Center, who interviewed the child on September 14, 2020. Cardenas testified that the child stated during the interview that Goldy first touched her in the front of her pants, then she turned and Goldy touched her in the back-both times over her underwear. The child denied that Goldy said anything "when he touched [her]" on the crotch or bottom. But Cardenas confirmed that the child reported that Goldy touched her "under her pants" in her genitalia in front. She also said Goldy touched her "on [her] backside" "[u]nder her pants."
Ashley and Scott also testified for the defense. Both stated that when they confronted Goldy about the child's allegations he denied touching the child. Goldy assured Scott, "I would never touch a kid." Scott and Ashley also testified that the mother and Ashley's brother often discussed, sometimes in the child's presence, that Goldy's father was a pedophile and their belief that pedophilia was hereditary. Given that belief, Ashley's brother insisted that while the children were with Ashley and Scott, they either had to supervise the children or keep them in the office or their bedroom away from Goldy.
In contrast to the mother and child's accounts, Ashley testified that she did not have direct customer contact in her job and worked from a spreadsheet; she was only on a work call one hour per week. The child and her sister often played in her office while she was working, which was not a problem. Ashley only babysat the child on six, non-consecutive days in July, when her mother needed help. The last date she babysat the child was July 17, 2020. After Goldy moved in, the child and her sister stayed either in Ashley's bedroom or the office because Ashley's brother said that Goldy was not allowed to be alone with the children. The child was never out of her sight in Goldy's presence; she remained in Ashley's bedroom with the door closed or in Ashley's office. If the child went to the kitchen to get a drink, Ashley "st[oo]d at the end of the hallway to watch" her until she returned to the office or bedroom. According to Ashley, Goldy was "never alone with the kids."
Scott recalled an incident on July 2, 2020, when the child spent the night with them. The child and Goldy sat together on a couch. The child moved closer to Goldy and "tried throwing a blanket around him." Scott scolded her that her behavior was inappropriate and directed her to stay on the other side of the couch. The child later told Scott that she did not like Goldy being at the house because she had to stay in the bedroom with her sister and watch the television shows that her younger sister chose.
The jury convicted Goldy on both counts of aggravated sexual battery. The trial court subsequently sentenced him to a total of 40 years' incarceration with 34 years suspended.
Goldy appeals his convictions, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to support his convictions because the Commonwealth's evidence "proved inconsistent and exhibited conflicting testimonies at trial that proved...
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