Commonwealth v. DiodoroCommonwealth v. Diodoro
OPINION
In thе instant appeal, the limited question presented for this Court’s review is whether accessing and viewing child pornography over the internet constitutes “control” of such pornography under
On or about November 20, 2003, the Ridley Township Police Department obtained a search warrant for appellant Anthony Diodoro’s personal computer and seized the computer from his residence in Delaware County. Following forensic examination of appellant’s computer, it was determined that the computer contained approximately 340 images of suspected child pornography and thirty additional images that were known to be child pornography. Consequently, appellant was arrested and charged with thirty counts of Sexual Abuse of Children in violation of
At a jury trial occurring on February 24 and 25, 2005, held before the Honorable Joseph P. Cronin, Jr., the Commonwealth’s computer forensics expert, Pennsylvania State Trooper Peter J. Salerno, testified tо the specifics of his forensic examination of appellant’s computer. Trooper Salerno explained that he searched the images and web history on appellant’s hard drive using forensic software, which revealed, inter alia, web pages pertaining to child pornography websites, and 370 images relating to child pornography that were stored in the cache files or unallocated space of the hard drive. Notes of Testimony, 2/28/05, at 223, 229. Trooper Salerno testified that finding the images of child pornography stored in thе cache files indicated that someone accessed the child pornography websites and by clicking the “next” button or a specific image, accessed and viewed the various images. Id. at 230-31. Trooper Salerno also noted that because of the large quantity of images stored in the cache files, it would have taken an individual a considerable amount of time to go through the images. Id. at 248. Furthermore, appellant and the Commonwealth stipulated as follows:
The [thirty] unlawful images located on the hard drive of [appellant’s] computer depicted, pictured and showed female children engaged in prohibited sexual acts. Those acts include sexual intercourse, oral sexual intercourse and lewd exhibition of genitals.
The second fact is that the [thirty] unlawful images were viewed by [appellant] on his computer while he was searching the World Wide Web for images of females under age [sixteen].
Id. at 250-51.
A jury convicted appellant of all counts charged. On May 23, 2005, the trial court sentenced appellant to an aggregate term of nine to twenty-three months of imprisonment, followed by five years’ probation. Additionally, appellant was required to submit to DNA testing and was prohibited from: (1) having unsupervised use of a computer; (2) having unsupervised contact with children under the age of eighteen; and (3) using drugs or alcohol.
On June 21, 2005, appellant filed a notice of appeal and a Concise Statement of Matters Complained of on Appeal pursuant to
The matters being complained of on appeal are as follows:
1. The evidence, including the presence of images of female children engaged in prohibited sexual acts in the cache files of [appellant’s] computer and [appellant’s] admission that he had been searching the internet to view images of females under age [sixteen], was insufficient to support [appellant’s] conviction for knowing possession of child pornography in violation of18 Pa.C.S. § 6312(d) .
2. The evidence, including the presence of images оf female children engaged in prohibited sexual acts in the cache files of [appellant’s] computer and [appellant’s] admission that he had been searching the internet to view images of females under age [sixteen], was insufficient to support [appellant’s] conviction for criminal use of a communication facility in violation of 18 Pa.C.S. [ § 7512(a) ].
Appellant’s Rule 1925(b) Concise Statement of Matters Complained of on Appeal, 6/21/05, at 1-2.
In its Rule 1925(a) opinion, the trial court explained that appellant’s judgment of sentencе should be affirmed because the evidence was sufficient to support his convictions under both
In his brief to the Superior Court, appellant raised the following issues:
Was the evidence, including the presence of images of female children engаged in prohibited sexual acts in the cache files of [appellant’s] computer and [appellant’s] admis sion that he had been searching the internet to view images of females under age [sixteen], sufficient to support [appellant’s] conviction for knowing possession of child pornography in violation of18 Pa.C.S. § 6312(d) ?
Was the evidence, including the presence of images of female children engaged in prohibited sexual acts in the cache files of [appellant’s] computer and [appellant’s] admission that he had been searching the internet to view images of females under age [sixteen], sufficient to support [appellant’s] conviction for criminal use of a communication facility in violation of 18 Pa.C.S.[ ]§ 7512(a) ?
Appellant’s Super. Ct. Brief, 4/24/06, at 2. On November 2, 2006, a panel of the Superior Court issued a published opinion. After finding that the evidence was insufficient to support appellant’s convictions for knowing possession of child pornography under
Before the en banc panel, appellant raised the following question for review:
Was the evidence consisting of images of female children engaged in prohibited sexual acts that had been automatically saved to an internet cache file on the [ ] hard drive of [ ] appellant’s computer and [ ] appellant’s admission that he had been searching the internet to view images of females under age [sixteen] sufficient to support appellant’s conviction for knowing possession of child pornography in violation of18 Pa.C.S. § 6312(d) and for criminal use of a communication facility in violation of 18 Pa:C.S.[ ]§ 7512(a) ?
Appellant’s (Substituted) Super. Ct. Brief, 2/6/07, at 2. On August 23, 2007, a majority of the Superior Court
en banc
panel affirmed the trial court’s judgment of sentence for both convictions in a published opinion.
Commonwealth v. Diodoro,
Judge Klein filed a dissenting opinion, which was joined by Judge Bender. The dissent did not address the sufficiency claim actually raised. Indeed, the dissent reframed the
Appellant petitioned this Court for allowance of appeal, taking issue with the Superior Court’s finding that he had control of the images for purposes of
Do reasonable minds differ regarding whether accessing and viewing child pornography over the interest [sic] underthe totality of the circumstances in this case constitutes “control” of such pornography under 18 Pa.C.S.[ ] § 6312(d) ?
Appellant’s Petition for Allowance of Appeal at 2. This Court rephrased the issue for clarity and granted review of the following question: “[w]hether accessing and viewing child pornography over the internet constitutes ‘control’ of such pornography under
Appellant argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he illegаlly controlled child pornography. Appellant maintains that the
corpus delecti
of the crime he claims he was convicted of — -possession of child pornography — were the files depicting child pornography found in the cache files of his computer. Appellant asserts that in order for the Commonwealth to establish that he had the power and intent to exercise control over the images of child pornography found on his computer, the Commonwealth was required to prove that he had knowledge of the existence of those images on his computer. Appellant contends that under the Commonwealth’s theory of the case — that appellant’s accessing and viewing of child pornography over the internet violated
The Commonwealth argues thаt the evidence was sufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that appellant was guilty of sexual abuse of children under
Additionally, the Commonwealth maintains that appellant need not have saved the images of child pornography or known that the images were automatically saved to his hard drive to have violated
The Commonwealth further argues that the purpose of
It is well-settled that “[t]he object of all interpretation and construction of statutes is to ascertain and effectuate the intention of the General Assembly,”
With these principles in mind, we turn to an examination of
Any person who knowingly possesses or controls any book, magazine, pamphlet, slide, photograph, film, videotape, computer depiction or other material depicting a child under the age of 18 years engaging in a prohibited sexual act or in the simulation of such act commits an offense.
Because
The parties appear to agree that, if an individual were to,
inter alia,
download, save or print an image of child pornography from the internet, or knew of the existence of the images of child pornography on his computer hard drive, those actions or that knowledge would constitute knowing possession of such material — also illegal under
Such a reading would also allow the purpose of this anti-child pornography legislation to be circumvented and the child pornography market to grow. We explained in
Common
tvealth v. Davidson,
For the foregoing reasons, we hold that accessing and viewing child pornography over the internet constitutes “control” of such pornography under
Notes
.
. Under
[a] person commits a felony of the third degree if that person uses a communication facility to commit, cause or facilitate the commission or the attempt thereof of any crime which constitutes a felony under this title or under the act of April 14, 1972 (P.L. 233, No. 64), [35 P.S. § 780-101 et seq.], known as The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act. Every instance where the communication facility is utilized constitutes a separate offense under this section.
. The majority further determined that, because the evidence was sufficient to support appellant's conviction for control of child pornography, the evidence also supported аppellant's conviction for criminal use of a communication facility under
. Although this is not the same issue that appellant presented to the Superior Court, it is properly preserved because the Superior Court decided the appeal premised upon this alternative avenue. Appellant does not dispute the propriety of the Superior Court passing upon the disjunctive manner of satisfying the statute.
. Perhaps influenced by the reasoning in the dissent below, appellant confuses his sufficiency claim by also appearing to argue that
As our above description of appellant's Rule 1925(b) statement and his Superior Court brief makes clear, the only two issues appellant raised below were chаllenges to the sufficiency of the evidence with respect to each of the two offenses of which he was convicted. Appellant did not allege any constitutional violation, nor did he challenge the constitutionality of either statute. Moreover, neither the trial court's opinion nor the majority opinion of the
an banc
panel of the Superior Court addressed the vagueness argument that appellant now attempts to raise, or any other constitutional challenge to
Of course, the fact that appellant waived a stand-alone constitutional claim does not alter the fact that we must strictly construe
. Appellant also argues that the evidence was insufficient to estаblish the crime of knowing possession of child pornography in violation of
The Commonwealth also argues that appellant was properly convicted under the theory of constructive possession. To bolster this argument, the Commonwealth includes a brief discussion of three cases from other states which address the issue of possession and/or constructive possession of child pornography. Furthermore, the Commonwealth includes a discussion of federal case law concerning violations of
Because this Court granted review solely on the question of whether accessing and viewing child pornography over the internet constitutes control of such pornography under