Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCP-21-CR-1080-2004 COMMONWEAL TH IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA V. DEBRA K. ROYE-ALLEN CP-21-CR-1080-2004 IN RE: OPINION PURSUANT TO PENNSYLVANIA RULE OF APPELLATE PROCEDURE 1925 Bayley, J., February 10, 2005:-- Defendant, Debra K. Roye-Allen, was charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of a child in violation of 18 Pa.C.S. Section 4304(a). Following a bench trial, defendant was found guilty of both counts. On November 30, 2004, defendant was sentenced on one count to pay the costs of prosecution and undergo imprisonment in the Cumberland County Prison for time served (nine days) to twelve months. She was paroled immediately on supervision. On the other count, she was sentenced to pay the costs of prosecution. Defendant filed a direct appeal from the judgments of sentence to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. She raises one issue in a concise statement of matters complained of on appeal: The evidence was insufficient to find Ms. Allen guilty of two counts of Endangering the Welfare of Children. The facts in a light most favorable to the Commonwealth are as follows. Defendant's grandchildren, ages six and five, lived with her. At approximately 8:45 p.m., on April 22,2004, without prior notice, defendant went with her grandchildren to the home of Michael Finkenbinder in the Borough of Carlisle. Defendant knew CR-21-CR-1080-2004 Finkenbinder, an adult, and asked him to watch her grandchildren for fifteen minutes while she ran an errand. Finkenbinder agreed, but told her that he had to leave for work at 5:30 a.m. the next morning. Defendant did not return. Finkenbinder called the Legion next door to his home at about 9:30 p.m. Defendant was there and said she was drinking. She said she would pick up the children after she finished a beer. At about 10:30 p.m. Finkenbinder called the Legion again. Defendant said she would be right up. Finkenbinder told her she could sleep at his place. He called the Legion a third time at about 12: 15 a.m. and defendant had left. He looked for her car but it was not in the Legion parking lot. Finkenbinder got up the next morning to go to a construction job that if he did not show up he would have been fired. Defendant was not there. Linda Abby and her daughter Amanda Abby, age 15, lived in Finkenbinder's home. He told them that the children's grandmother would pick them up, then left for work at about 5:20 a.m. Linda Abby later went to work. Amanda Abby got the children something to eat. She then gave them her cell phone number, and left for school where she was in the tenth grade. The children were seen alone outside a Minute Stop store at 8:00 a.m. They were again seen alone outside at 12:45 p.m. when a police officer had them taken to Cumberland County Children and Youth Services. Defendant never returned to Finkenbinder's home to either pick up the children or sleep there because she became intoxicated at the Legion, left and drove somewhere, stopped and passed out. She did go to the home at about 2:00 p.m. the next day, but could not find the children. -2- CR-21-CR-1080-2004 -3- CR-21-CR-1080-2004 The Crimes Code at 18 Pa.C.S. Section 4304(a) provides: A parent, guardian, or other person supervising the welfare of a child under 18 years of age commits an offense if he knowing endangers the welfare of the child by violating a duty of care, protection or support. (Emphasis added.) Defendant argues in her brief that she left the children with a responsible adult, who agreed to care for them, albeit for a short period of time. In doing so, she passed the care of the children to another adult who voluntarily assumed that duty. It was Mike Finkenbinder who knowingly left the children alone in the house by themselves. She acted properly when she passed the responsibility of her grandchildren to another adult at a time when she was not able to care for them herself. An analogy is if she left the children at a daycare center and did not come back for them when she was supposed to. Finkenbinder is the farthest thing from a daycare center that one can imagine. He did not agree to care for the children the next morning. The Crimes Code at 18 Pa.C.S. Section 302(2) provides: A person acts knowingly with respect to a material element of an offense when: (i) if the element involves the nature of his conduct or the attendant circumstances, he is aware that his conduct is of that nature or that such circumstances exist; and (ii) if the element involves a result of his conduct, he is aware that it is practically certain that his conduct will cause such a result. (Emphasis added.) The Commonwealth proved beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant knew that if she did not return to Finkenbinder's residence that it was practically certain that the children would be left alone in the morning. Finkenbinder told her he had to go to -4- CR-21-CR-1080-2004 work early the next morning. He kept calling her and telling her to come back. She ignored him and got roaring drunk. She had no reasonable basis to believe that Finkenbinder, Abby or Abby's daughter would care for the children the next morning. The welfare of the children was endangered when they were left alone and they got outside in Carlisle for up to four and three-quarter hours without adult supervision. Accordingly, based on the evidence and the reasonable inferences derived therefrom, the Commonwealth proved the elements of endangering the welfare of children on the two counts against defendant. (Date) Edgar B. Bayley, J. Jonathan R. Birbeck, Esquire Jaime Keating, Esquire For the Commonwealth Jessica Rhoades, Esquire F or Defendant :sal -5-