Com. v. Hamilton, C., 89 MDA 2017

Victim stayed overnight at Appellant Clarence Hamilton’s home on December 27, 2014; she and her son slept on the living-room floor.
Victim testified that she was awoken twice by Appellant: first putting his hand on her and later tugging her pants, pressing his erect penis against her leg, and rubbing her buttocks.
Police responded; the victim gave a statement consistent with her trial testimony and appeared in shock.
A jury convicted Hamilton of indecent assault (18 Pa.C.S. § 3126) on August 26, 2016.
Trial court sentenced Hamilton to 6 to 23 months’ incarceration on December 5, 2016; post-sentence motions (including a weight-of-the-evidence challenge) were denied.
The Superior Court remanded for an additional Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion, then considered Hamilton’s appeal of the trial court’s denial of his weight-of-the-evidence claim and affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the verdict was against the weight of the evidence	Commonwealth: the victim’s testimony and police corroboration supported the verdict	Hamilton: his version of events was plausible and the verdict should be disturbed as contrary to the weight of the evidence	Trial court and Superior Court: denial of weight challenge affirmed — jury credibility finding was not so contrary to the evidence as to shock the conscience

Commonwealth v. Clay, 64 A.3d 1049 (Pa. 2013) (sets standards for reviewing weight-of-the-evidence claims)
Commonwealth v. Widmer, 744 A.2d 745 (Pa. 2000) (trial court’s role and deference in weight claims)
Commonwealth v. Brown, 648 A.2d 1177 (Pa. 1994) (new trial when verdict shocks one’s sense of justice)
Commonwealth v. Farquharson, 354 A.2d 545 (Pa. 1976) (appellate deference to trial court credibility findings)
Commonwealth v. Diggs, 949 A.2d 873 (Pa. 2008) (noting denial of weight claim is among least assailable rulings)
Coker v. S.M. Flickinger Co., 625 A.2d 1181 (Pa. 1993) (limits on abuse of discretion standard)