J-A08018-17

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

IN THE INTEREST OF: N.B., A MINOR IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF

PENNSYLVANIA

APPEAL OF: N.B., A MINOR

No. 2952 EDA 2016

Appeal from the Dispositional Order August 19, 2016

In the Court of Common Pleas of Monroe County

Juvenile Division at No(s): CP-45-JV-0000171-2015,

CP-45-JV-0000172-2015

BEFORE: PANELLA, J., LAZARUS, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E.*

MEMORANDUM BY LAZARUS, J.: FILED MAY 12, 2017

N.B. appeals from the trial court’s order denying his post-dispositional 

motion following his adjudication of delinquency for rape of a child under 13 

years of age,1involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child under the 

age of 13,2aggravated indecent assault,3sexual assault,4indecent assault,5

and indecent exposure6in CP-45-JV-0000171-2015 (“Case 171” (female 

____________________________________________

*

Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.

1 18 Pa.C.S. § 3121(c).

2 18 Pa.C.S. § 3123(b).

3 18 Pa.C.S. § 3125(b).

4 18 Pa.C.S. § 3124.1.

5 18 Pa.C.S. § 3126(a)(7).

6 18 Pa.C.S. §3127(a).
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victim)), and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse,7indecent assault,8

indecent exposure9and sexual assault10 in CP-45-JV-0000172-2015 (“Case 

172” (male victim)). The charges stemmed from sexual acts N.B. allegedly 

perpetrated upon his half-siblings, N.M. and N.M., aged 41⁄2 and 61⁄2 at the 

time of the incidents. After careful review, we affirm.

N.B. is the half-brother of the victims in this case, N.M. (female) and 

N.M. (male) (collectively “the victims”). N.B. and the victims have the same 

biological mother, E.M. (Mother). The victims’ father is C.M. (Stepfather). 

N.B.’s biological father is J.B (Father). At the time of the incidents, the 

victims, N.B. and three other brothers and sisters lived in Mother’s 

residence. N.B. lived primarily with Mother, but on certain weekends he 

would reside with Father. By all accounts, Mother and Father had been 

involved in a contentious custody battle over N.B. for ten years. However, 

there was a significant lull in the custody proceedings at the time the victims 

made their allegations against N.B. The evidence of the sexual assaults in 

both cases was purely circumstantial; there was no forensic or physical 

evidence of abuse to either victim.

____________________________________________

7 18 Pa.C.S. § 3123(b).

8 18 Pa.C.S. §3126(a)(7).

9 18 Pa.C.S. § 3127(a).

10 18 Pa.C.S. § 3124.1.
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On August 17, 2015, N.B. filed a pretrial omnibus motion seeking, 

among other things, taint and competency hearings regarding both victims. 

In the motion, N.B. specifically requested that the court “convene a taint 

hearing regarding the video testimony of [the victims] . . . [because] . . . 

there was taint in the reporting process and investigation of this case as well 

as the child advocacy interviews conducted regarding the alleged child 

victims.” Defendant’s Omnibus Pretrial Motion, 8/17/15, at ¶¶ 34, 37. 

On January 22, 2016, and March 29, 2016, the trial court held “taint” 

hearings to address whether the case involved “false memories or distortion

of memories by [forensic] interview techniques [of the child victims] that 

[were] unduly suggestive and coercive.” Trial Court Opinion, 10/14/16, at 

1-2. At the hearings, Dr. Frank M. Datillio, a licensed clinical and forensic 

psychologist, was certified as an expert in forensic psychology and 

interviewing. N.T. Taint Hearing, 1/22/16, at 63; N.T. Taint Hearing, 

3/29/16, at 7, 25. Doctor Datillio stated that “there [was] the potential for 

[taint]” in N.M.’s [male] testimony from the [Child Advocacy Center (CAC)] 

interview as “a result of the interview process[,]” id. at 95, and, that to a 

degree of forensic psychological certainty, he believed that the CAC video 

was tainted as a result of “too many leading questions, [that the interview 

was conducted] in too quick a time[,]” and that “there was [not] enough 

operationally defined aspects with regard to touch and body part.” Id. at 

97. 
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CAC child forensic interviewer, Kristen Fetcho, also testified at the 

taint hearing; she was admitted as an expert in forensic interviewing and 

child development. Fetcho, who had been employed as a forensic 

interviewer for more than twenty years, had conducted almost 8,500 

interviews. Fetcho conducted the interview of N.M. (male) in the instant 

case. She testified that the CAC uses the National Children’s Alliance 

Children’s Advocacy Center method of interviewing children, which is a 

combination of the Rapport, Anatomy, Touch, Abuse and Closure (“RATAC”) 

Method and other approaches. N.T. Taint Hearing, 3/29/16, at 46. The CAC 

method includes an “intro, . . . rules, . . . rapport, . . . narrative building, . . 

. narrative practice[,] . . . family composition and . . . transition.” Id. After 

reviewing her videotaped interview of N.M (male) and the interview of N.M. 

(female), Fetcho concluded that, based on her experience, neither of the 

children behaved in a way that concerned her, and opined, to a reasonable 

degree of professional certainty, that there was no taint with regard to either 

child victim. Id. at 52. 

Following the taint hearings, the court concluded that, based upon a 

totality of the circumstances, the testimony was not compelling to show 

clear and convincing evidence of taint. While the court acknowledged that 

there were “admittedly signs of possible taint, . . . [it also recognized that] 

every child acts and reacts differently to events, stress, and interviewing and 

that . . . in light of the entire testimony of the child in the interview, the 

child’s demeanor and body language during the interview, and the mostly 
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consistent testimony during the interview, such was not convincing evidence 

of taint.” Trial Court Opinion, 10/14/16, at 4. On May 6, 2016, the court 

issued an order denying N.B.’s motion requesting dismissal of the charges 

due to taint.

On July 19, 2016, an in camera Tender Years Hearsay Exception11

proceeding was held with N.B. (female) and N.B. (male), during which the 

attorneys in the case and, to a limited extent, the judge asked the children 

questions regarding their ability to distinguish the truth from a lie and how 

they would feel about testifying in front of N.B. The trial judge ultimately 

concluded that both child victims were competent to testify in the case and 

that their non-testimonial statements were admissible under section 5985.1. 

Id. at 45. The trial judge also concluded that the statements the children 

made during their CAC interviews had “enough sufficient indicia of reliability” 

and that because he believed the children would suffer serious emotional 

distress, which could impair their ability to reasonably communicate if they 

____________________________________________

11 See 42 Pa.C.S. § 5985.1(a) (Tender Years Hearsay Exception permits outof-court statement made by a child victim or witness 12 years of age or 

younger describing, in part, sexual offenses admissible in evidence in 

criminal or civil proceeding if: “(1) the court finds, in an in camera hearing, 

that the evidence is relevant and that the time, content and circumstances 

of the statement provide sufficient indicia of reliability; and (2) the child 

either: (i) testifies at the proceeding; or (ii) is unavailable as a witness.”).

.
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were required to testify in front of N.B., they could testify using a 

“contemporaneous alternative method” such as video. Id. at 46-47.

Following a detention hearing, the court found that the Commonwealth 

provided prima facie evidence of IDSI, indecent assault, indecent exposure, 

and sexual assault. After a hearing, the court adjudicated N.B. delinquent; 

N.B. was placed under the temporary legal custody of Monroe County 

Children and Youth for placement at a sex offender treatment program at 

La-Sa-Quik, a community-based home located near Williamsport, 

Pennsylvania. On August 29, 2016, N.B. filed a post-dispositional motion to 

vacate or modify the adjudicatory order of delinquency in both cases. See 

Pa.R.J.P. 620. The motion raised the issue of sufficiency and/or inconsistent 

victim testimony in the cases.12 The court denied the motion on September 

1, 2016. N.B. filed a timely notice of appeal and court-ordered Pa.R.A.P. 

1925(b) concise statement of matters complained of on appeal. He raises 

the following issues for our consideration:

(1) Whether the trial court erred when it denied the juvenile’s 

motion to dismiss for taint the charges of [r]ape of a child, 

[i]nvoluntary [d]eviate [s]exual [i]intercourse (IDSI), 

[a]ggravated indecent assault, [s]exual [a]ssault, 

[i]ndecent [a]ssault, and [i]ndecent [e]xposure as to the 

victim N.M. [female] . . . due to the tainted influence of 

the juvenile’s biological mother and step-father regarding 

the testimony of the child witness; AND

____________________________________________

12 See Pa.R.J.P. 629(A)(2) (“Issues raised before or during the adjudicatory 

hearing shall be deemed preserved for appeal whether or not the party 

elects to file a post-dispositional motion on those issues.”).
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(2) Whether the trial court erred when it denied the juvenile’s 

motion to dismiss for taint the charges of [IDSI,] 18 

Pa.C.S. § 3123(b); [i]ndecent [a]ssault[,] 18 Pa.C.S. 

[§§]3126 [] (a)(7) [&] 18 Pa.C.S. § 3127(a)[;] and 

[s]exual [a]ssault[,] 18 Pa.C.S. §3124.1 as to the victim 

N.M. [male] due to the tainted inference of the juvenile’s 

biological mother and step-father regarding the testimony 

of the child witness.

Appellant’s Brief, at 5.13

Our Supreme Court’s decisions in Commonwealth v. Delbridge, 855 

A.2d 27 (Pa. 2003) (“Delbridge I”) and Commonwealth v. Delbridge, 

859 A.2d 1254, 1256 (Pa. 2004) (“Delbridge II”), are the seminal cases 

addressing the issue of taint in cases involving the alleged sexual abuse of 

children. In Delbridge II, the Supreme Court noted:

The core belief underlying the theory of taint is that a child's 

memory is peculiarly susceptible to suggestibility so that when 

called to testify a child may have difficulty distinguishing fact 

from fantasy. See Josephine A. Bulkley, The Impact of New 

Child Witness Research on Sexual Abuse Prosecutions, in 

Perspectives on Children's Testimony, 208, 213 (Stephen J. Ceci 

et al. eds, 1989). Taint is the implantation of false 

memories or the distortion of real memories caused by 

interview techniques of law enforcement, social service 

personnel, and other interested adults, that are so unduly 

suggestive and coercive as to infect the memory of the 

child, rendering that child incompetent to testify. See, 

Julie Jablonski, Assessing the Future of Taint Hearings, 33 Suff. 

J. Trial & App. Adv., 49, 50 (1998). 

____________________________________________

13 N.B. notes in his brief that while he raised the issues of weight and 

sufficiency of the evidence in his Rule 1925(b) concise statement of matters 

complained of on appeal, he has abandoned those claims on appeal. Thus, 

we will confine our review to the taint issue.
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Id., citing Delbridge I, 855 A.2d at 34-35 (emphasis in original). An 

allegation of taint in a case involving alleged sexual abuse of a child raises a 

question of witness competency. See Delbridge I, 855 A.2d at 34-35. In 

order to determine whether a child witness is considered competent to 

testify, a court must examine whether the child has:

(1) such capacity to communicate, including as it does 

both an ability to understand questions and to frame and 

express intelligent answers; (2) [the] mental capacity 

to observe the occurrence itself and the capacity to 

remember what it is that [he or] she is called to 

testify about, and (3) a consciousness of the duty to 

speak the truth.

Id. at 39 (emphasis added); see generally Pa.R.E. 601(b) (Competency). 

It is the second prong of the competency test that speaks directly to the 

issue of taint. 

In Delbridge I, supra, our Supreme Court explained the pre-trial 

procedure to determine whether interviewer bias influenced a child witness 

to a degree that the proffered testimony may have been irreparably 

compromised:

A determination of a child witness’s competency involving 

allegations of taint necessitates review of the manner in which a 

child’s allegations of sexual abuse surfaced and were 

investigated. In some cases it is conceivable that resolution of 

this issue could be had through an examination of the factual 

context of the interview process. It is also conceivable that with 

certain children, given differences in age, experience, mental 

acuity and familial circumstances, and considering specifics of 

the allegations of abuse, and the circumstances surrounding the 

investigation itself, that expert testimony may be necessary. 

Further, it is possible that the phenomenon of taint may undergo 

revision or reconsideration in the relevant scientific, 

psychological or law enforcement communities that should be 
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brought to the attention of the trial court. In Pennsylvania, 

expert testimony is admissible when a matter in issue is beyond 

the common knowledge of the factfinder: If scientific, technical 

or other specialized knowledge beyond that possessed by a 

layperson will assist the trier of fact to understand the evidence 

or to determine a fact in issue, a witness qualified as an expert 

by knowledge, skill, experience, training or education may testify 

thereto in the form of an opinion or otherwise.

Id. at 43. Additionally, since competency is the presumption, in 

Pennsylvania the moving party must carry the burden of overcoming that 

presumption. Id. at 40-41. As with all questions of competency, the 

resolution of a taint challenge to the competency of a child witness is a 

matter addressed to the discretion of the trial court. Id. Finally, our 

standard of review of a trial court ruling on competency is for an abuse of 

discretion. Rosche v. McCoy, 156 A.2d 307 (Pa. 1959).14

Instantly, N.B. alleges that Mother fabricated the allegations against 

him after he expressed an interest to live with Father and after she read 

N.B.’s private journal entries detailing N.B.’s accounts of Mother and 

Stepfather’s verbal and physical abuse inflicted upon him. Moreover, N.B. 

claims that the CAC employs interview techniques, which include leading 

questions and “’precogitated’ findings, that lead to the elicitation of 

inadmissible, incompetent testimony.” Appellant’s Brief, at 6.

____________________________________________

14 When reviewing a trial court’s determination that a child-witness is 

competent, “[i]t is appropriate for an appellate court to look not only to the 

trial court’s questioning of the child [at the competency hearing] prior to the 

child testifying, but also to the child’s actual testimony.” Commonwealth 

v. Trimble, 615 A.2d 48, 51 (Pa. Super. 1992).
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Taint implicates the ability of a child to distinguish real memories of an 

event from falsely implanted suggestions that could infect the mental 

capacity of the child witness to independently recall the event and truthfully 

testify. Delbridge II, 859 A.2d at 1255. In order to determine whether 

taint exits in a given case, at a competency hearing the central focus is “the 

minimal capacity of the witness to communicate, to observe an event and 

accurately recall that observation, and to understand the necessity to speak 

the truth.” Delbridge I, 855 A.2d at 40.

We concur with the trial court that N.B. did not provide clear and 

convincing evidence of taint to overcome the presumption of competency 

with regard to the child victims. First, N.B.’s allegations that Mother 

fabricated the abuse claims is not borne out in the record. While N.B. 

contends that Mother inflicted abuse upon him, when pressed to detail the 

events leading to that conclusion, N.B. testified that Mother made him do 

extensive chores around the house and watch his younger siblings. 

Moreover, to the extent that N.B. contends Mother would have conjured up 

the sexual abuse allegations against him because she was jealous that N.B. 

wanted to live with Father, we note that when the allegations surfaced, 

Mother indicated that she wanted N.B. to move out of her house 

immediately and live with Father. There is simply nothing clear and 

convincing to prove that Mother fabricated the abuse allegations. See 

Commonwealth v. Pukowsky, 147 A.3d 1229, 1234 (Pa. Super. 2016) 

(where defendant asserted that child victim’s testimony was tainted because 
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“incidents occurred during a period of marital stress between himself and 

[the child’s mother],” court concluded that fact that parents were in divorce 

litigation in no way caused mother to implant false memories or distortions 

onto victim regarding alleged sexual abuse by defendant that would make 

child incompetent to testify). 

With regard to the interview procedures employed by the staff at the 

Scranton CAC, we likewise find that N.B. failed to prove that the victims’ 

memories were compromised by tainted interview techniques. 

N.M. (male) was interviewed on June 29, 2015, by Scranton CAC 

worker, Kristin Fetcho.15 During his CAC interview, N.M. consistently and 

repeatedly stated that he did not remember what happened with regard to 

any alleged incidents with N.B. However, as a result of her persistence and 

direct16 questioning, N.M. eventually told Fetcho that N.M. touched his 

private parts, took him into their bedroom closet, told her that one of them 

was wearing clothes and the other pajamas, and said that he remembered 

____________________________________________

15 Mother testified that N.M. was identified at an early age with both 

communication and speech issues; he had an Individualized Education 

Program (IEP) in place for his speech and verbal issues at the time of his 

CAC interview. Mother testified that she told Fetcho about these issues 

before she conducted the CAC interview. However, Mother also testified that 

N.M. does not have any cognitive or learning disabilities that would impair 

his ability to understand communication. N.T. Proceeding, 4/15/16, at 11-

12.

16 Fetcho defined direct questioning during a forensic child interview as one 

where the interviewer asks the “who’s, what’s and where’s” to obtain details 

on something the child already stated. N.T. Taint, 3/29/16, at 51.
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seeing N.B.’s private parts. When asked what it felt like when N.M. touched 

him, he replied that “it tickled.” While N.M. did not always answer Fetcho’s 

questions in an intelligible, articulate manner as a result of N.M.’s diagnosed 

speech impediments, his competency as a witness was not impaired as a 

result of them. Rosche, 156 A.2d at 310-12. N.M.’s answers are consistent 

with the reality that every child reacts differently to life experiences, his 

language was appropriate based on his speech and communication issues, 

and his unaffected recounting of the events was not unusual given the 

variance in each individual child’s temperament.

Although Dr. Datillio “concluded to a reasonable forensic psychological 

certainty [that] there was taint in [Case 172] in the CAC interview, on crossexamination Dr. Datillio recognized that there are other interview techniques 

then the one that he employs; leading questions are oftentimes necessary 

early in an interview; CAC interviewer Fetcho stopped for a break only four 

minutes later than when he would have; and N.M.’s behavior during the 

interview could be attributed to his feeling uncomfortable with the details he 

was recounting. N.T. Taint Hearing, 3/29/16, 23-35. 

We are mindful that “[t]he clear and convincing burden accepts that 

some suggestibility may occur in the gathering of evidence, while 

recognizing that when considering the totality of the circumstances, any 

possible taint is sufficiently attenuated to permit a finding of competency.” 

Delbridge I, 855 A.2d at 41. Here, while admittedly there was some 

suggestive questioning during N.M.’s (male) interview, we agree with the 
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trial court that it did not render N.M. (male) incompetent to testify. The 

evidence reveals that while N.M. had some speech impediments and was not 

immediately forthcoming with information, he did have the mental capacity 

to observe the occurrence itself and the capacity to remember what it is that 

he was called to testify about. Id.

Instantly, Bridget Conway from the Scranton CAC interviewed N.M. 

(female) on June 29, 2015. While Conway may not have employed optimal 

interviewing techniques, after viewing the entire video tape of the interview, 

we concur with the trial court that the techniques were not so suggestive or 

leading as to compel a conclusion that the victim’s testimony was tainted or 

that she was incompetent to testify at trial. See Pukowsky, supra (trial 

court did not abuse its discretion in determining child victim was competent 

to testify where psychotherapist’s questioning was “gentle, open-ended and 

appropriate,” any taint was “mild” and was not enough to render child 

incompetent to testify, and that while interviewer may not have been most 

proficient in techniques, questions were not leading, suggestive or 

coercive). Moreover, any discrepancies in N.M.’s (female) statements and 

testimony were so minor and reconcilable that they do not raise doubt about 

her competency. See Commonwealth v. Fox, 282 A.2d 341 (Pa. 1971) 

(inconsistencies in recollection of events go to witness’s credibility, not 

competency).

Order affirmed.
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Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.

Prothonotary

Date: 5/12/2017