J-A22043-22

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

v.

CHRISTOPHER DUANE LINK 

Appellant

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 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF

 PENNSYLVANIA

 No. 1072 WDA 2021

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered July 22, 2021

In the Court of Common Pleas of McKean County Criminal Division at 

No(s): CP-42-CR-0000355-2020

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

v.

CHRISTOPHER DUANNE LINK 

Appellant

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 IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF

 PENNSYLVANIA

 No. 1073 WDA 2021

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered July 22, 2021

In the Court of Common Pleas of McKean County Criminal Division at 

No(s): CP-42-CR-0000482-2020

BEFORE: OLSON, J., DUBOW, J., and COLINS, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY COLINS, J.: FILED: DECEMBER 22, 2022

Appellant, Christopher Link, appeals from the judgment of sentence of

10 to 20 years’ incarceration and 1 year of probation imposed on him after he 

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* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.
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was convicted by a jury of aggravated assault, simple assault, and reckless 

endangerment.1 For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

Appellant was charged in this case, CP-42-CR-0000355-2020 (CR-355-

2020), with four counts of aggravated assault, three counts of simple assault, 

two counts of reckless endangerment and two counts of possession of an 

instrument of crime for beating and stabbing his girlfriend (Victim) on July 25, 

26, and 28, 2020. These charges were tried to jury from June 21 to June 25, 

2021, together with another case, CP-42-CR-0000482-2020 (CR-482-2020),

in which Appellant was charged with flight to avoid apprehension. On June 

25, 2021, the jury convicted Appellant of one count of aggravated assault for 

assaulting Victim and causing permanent disfigurement of her ear, one count 

of simple assault, and one count of reckless endangerment in CR-355-2020

and convicted Appellant of flight to avoid apprehension in CR-482-2020. N.T. 

Trial, 6/25/21, at 1104-09; CR-355-2020 Verdict Sheet; CR-482-2020 Verdict 

Sheet. The jury acquitted Appellant in CR-355-2020 of the other aggravated 

assault and simple assault counts, which concerned stab wounds and other 

knife wounds that Victim suffered, and acquitted him of the other reckless 

endangerment count and both possession of an instrument of crime charges. 

N.T. Trial, 6/25/21, at 1104-09; CR-355-2020 Verdict Sheet. 

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1 18 Pa.C.S. §§ 2702(a)(1), 2701(a)(1), and 2705, respectively.
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On July 22, 2021, the trial court sentenced Appellant in CR-355-2020, 

CR-482-2020, and a third case in which Appellant had pled guilty to two 

charges. N.T. Sentencing at 2, 9, 15-16; Sentencing Order. In CR-355-2020,

the trial court sentenced Appellant to 10 to 20 years’ incarceration for the 

aggravated assault conviction plus 1 year of probation pursuant to 61 Pa.C.S. 

§ 6137.2, imposed a concurrent sentence of 1 to 2 years’ incarceration for 

reckless endangerment, and ruled that the simple assault conviction merged 

with the aggravated assault conviction. N.T. Sentencing at 15-16; Sentencing 

Order at 1.

2

In CR-482-2020, the trial court sentenced Appellant to 1 to 2 

years’ incarceration to run consecutively to his sentence in CR-355-2020. N.T. 

Sentencing at 15-16; Sentencing Order at 1. Appellant filed a timely post 

sentence motion in which he raised challenges to the sufficiency and weight 

of the evidence in CR-355-2020 and sought modification of his sentence with 

respect to the amount of credit for time served. On August 9, 2021, the trial 

court granted the modification of sentence with respect to credit for time 

served and denied the post sentence motion in all other respects. Trial Court 

Order, 8/9/21. 

Appellant timely filed appeals from the judgments of sentence in both 

CR-355-2020 and CR-482-2020, which this Court consolidated sua sponte. In 

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2 The sentence of 10 to 20 years for Appellant’s aggravated assault conviction 

was a mandatory minimum sentence that the trial court was required to 

impose under 42 Pa.C.S. § 9714(a)(1) because Appellant had a prior 

aggravated assault conviction. N.T. Sentencing at 4-5. 
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his brief, however, Appellant has challenged only his convictions in CR-355-

2020, the assault case. Appellant presents the following single issue for our 

review:

Whether there was sufficient evidence to convict the Defendant of 

Aggravated Assault, Simple Assault and Recklessly Endangering 

Another Person when there was substantial and credible evidence 

presented at trial that the Defendant struck the victim one time 

to thwart a suicide attempt?

Appellant’s Brief at 5.

Our standard of review in a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence 

is well-settled:

When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we must 

determine whether the evidence admitted at trial and all 

reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, viewed in the light most 

favorable to the Commonwealth as verdict winner, were sufficient 

to prove every element of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. 

“[T]he facts and circumstances established by the Commonwealth 

need not preclude every possibility of innocence.” It is within the 

province of the fact-finder to determine the weight to accord to 

each witness’s testimony and to believe all, part or none of the 

evidence. The Commonwealth may sustain its burden of proving 

every element of the crime by means of wholly circumstantial 

evidence. As an appellate court, we may not re-weigh the 

evidence and substitute our judgment for that of the fact-finder.

Commonwealth v. Steele, 234 A.3d 840, 845 (Pa. Super. 2020) (quoting 

Commonwealth v. Colon-Plaza, 136 A.3d 521 (Pa. Super. 2016)) (citations 

omitted, brackets in original).

The only element of the offenses of aggravated assault, simple assault, 

and reckless endangerment that Appellant argues that the evidence was 

insufficient to prove is the mens rea element of these offenses. The mens rea
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required to support Appellant’s aggravated assault conviction can be satisfied 

by proof that Appellant intentionally caused Victim serious bodily injury or by 

proof that he acted with malice, defined as reckless infliction of serious bodily

injury under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life. 

18 Pa.C.S. § 2702(a)(1) (“[a] person is guilty of aggravated assault if he: (1) 

attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another, or causes such injury 

intentionally, knowingly or recklessly under circumstances manifesting 

extreme indifference to the value of human life”); Interest of N.A.D., 205 

A.3d 1237, 1240 (Pa. Super. 2019); Commonwealth v. Bruce, 916 A.2d 

657, 661, 664 (Pa. Super. 2007). The offense of simple assault of which 

Appellant was convicted requires that the defendant intentionally, knowingly,

or recklessly caused bodily injury. 18 Pa.C.S. § 2701(a)(1); Commonwealth 

v. Rahman, 75 A.3d 497, 501 (Pa. Super. 2013). The offense of reckless 

endangerment requires proof that the defendant recklessly engaged in 

conduct which placed or may have placed another person in danger of death 

or serious bodily injury. 18 Pa.C.S. § 2705; Steele, 234 A.3d at 847. The 

mens rea of recklessness for simple assault and reckless endangerment 

requires that the defendant consciously disregarded a substantial and 

unjustifiable risk that his conduct would cause the harm in question. 18 

Pa.C.S. § 302(b)(3). 

Appellant argues that the Commonwealth did not show that he 

intentionally caused serious bodily injury or any injury to Victim or that he 
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acted with recklessness manifesting extreme indifference to human life or 

conscious disregard of a risk of serious bodily injury or any injury because he 

struck Victim only once to stop her from committing suicide. Appellant’s 

contention, however, misstates the evidence at trial. Although Victim’s 

testimony at trial and the testimony of Appellant and his cousin supported this 

version of events, there was also evidence before the jury that Appellant 

violently assaulted Victim in the head multiple times unconnected to any

prevention of a suicide attempt. We judge the sufficiency of the evidence by 

whether there was evidence supporting the Commonwealth’s case sufficient if 

believed by the jury to prove the elements of the offense, not based on 

Appellant’s disputed version of facts, which the jury rejected. 

Commonwealth v. James, 268 A.3d 461, 469 (Pa. Super. 2021); 

Commonwealth v. Antidormi, 84 A.3d 736, 757 (Pa. Super. 2014).

Victim made statements to a police officer when she was being 

transported to the hospital on July 28, 2020 that were recorded on the officer’s 

body camera and this recording was admitted in evidence and played to the 

jury. Commonwealth Ex. 16; N.T. Trial, 6/23/21, at 553-54. In these 

recorded statements, which were admissible for their truth, Pa.R.E. 

803.1(1)(C); Commonwealth v. Brown, 52 A.3d 1139, 1171 (Pa. 2012), 

Victim stated that her ear was damaged when Appellant beat her in the head 

a few days earlier both in their room and when they were together in a car at 

a Sheetz station and that he beat her because she couldn’t answer a question 
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that he asked her and he “snapped” on her. Commonwealth Ex. 16. Victim’s 

recorded statements were corroborated by an eyewitness who was parked 

next to Appellant’s and Victim’s car at Sheetz station. That eyewitness

testified that he saw Appellant repeatedly slam Victim’s head hard into the 

dashboard and steering wheel of their car. N.T. Trial, 6/22/21 at 396-401, 

410-11. 

Medical evidence was also introduced that showed not only that Victim 

suffered a permanent serious disfigurement of her ear, but that she suffered 

a broken facial bone and broken ribs in these attacks. N.T. Trial, 6/22/21 at 

369-73, 387. In addition, the Commonwealth introduced in evidence and 

played to the jury telephone calls between Appellant and Victim after Appellant 

was arrested in which Appellant referred to “the things that I did to you,” said 

“I’m sorry for shattering your face,” and urged Victim to help get the charges 

dropped and say that she was mentally ill, on a drug binge, and angry at 

Appellant when she spoke to the police. Commonwealth Ex. 19; N.T. Trial, 

6/23/21, at 580-86. 

This evidence was sufficient to prove the mens rea element of all of the 

offenses of which Appellant was convicted. Intent to cause serious bodily 

injury, malice, and conscious disregard of a risk of death or serious bodily 

injury may be proven by circumstantial evidence. Interest of N.A.D., 205 

A.3d at 1240; Commonwealth v. Smith, 956 A.2d 1029, 1036-38 (Pa. 

Super. 2008); Bruce, 916 A.2d at 661, 664. A jury is free to conclude that 
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the defendant intended the natural and probable consequences of his actions. 

Commonwealth v. Faulk, 928 A.2d 1061, 1070 (Pa. Super. 2007); 

Commonwealth v. Lewis, 911 A.2d 558, 564 (Pa. Super. 2006).

Here, the jury could find from Victim’s recorded statements, the 

eyewitness testimony concerning the attack at the Sheetz station, and the 

medical testimony that Appellant beat Victim in the head and slammed 

Victim’s head repeatedly against hard objects because he was angry at her

and that the force that Appellant applied to Victim’s head was sufficient to 

break a bone in her face and deform her ear. Evidence that the defendant 

struck the victim in the head multiple times with substantial force or slammed 

the victim’s head into a hard object multiple times is sufficient to prove both 

intent to cause serious bodily injury and recklessness manifesting extreme 

indifference to human life. Commonwealth v. Kinney, 157 A.3d 968, 973 

(Pa. Super. 2017); Faulk, 928 A.2d at 1070-71; Bruce, 916 A.2d at 661-65; 

Lewis, 911 A.2d at 561-62, 565; Commonwealth v. Frisbie, 889 A.2d 

1271, 1273-75 (Pa. Super. 2005); Commonwealth v. Dailey, 828 A.2d 356, 

360-61 (Pa. Super. 2003). A fortiori, it is also sufficient to prove intent to 

injure and conscious disregard of a substantial risk of serious bodily injury. 

 Appellant argues that under Commonwealth v. Packer, 168 A.3d 

161 (Pa. 2017) and Commonwealth v. O’Hanlon, 653 A.2d 616 (Pa. 1995), 

aggravated assault requires the same mens rea as third-degree murder. That 

contention, however, is incorrect. Packer and O’Hanlon held that the malice 
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that can support an aggravated assault conviction is the same extreme 

indifference to human life that must be shown to prove third-degree murder. 

Packer, 168 A.3d at 168; O’Hanlon, 653 A.2d at 618. Malice, however, is 

only one of the states of mind that is sufficient to prove aggravated assault. 

Proof that the defendant intended to cause serious bodily injury is also

sufficient to support a conviction, regardless of whether malice is shown. 18 

Pa.C.S. § 2702(a)(1); Bruce, 916 A.2d at 661. This alternative mens rea of 

intent to cause serious bodily injury was not at issue in either Packer or 

O’Hanlon because the death and injuries in both of those cases occurred in 

car accidents and not as a result of an intentional assault.

In any event, even if proof of malice were required, the Commonwealth 

satisfied that burden here. As noted above, the evidence that Appellant beat 

Victim violently in the head multiple times with sufficient force to break a bone 

and deform her ear is sufficient to prove recklessness manifesting extreme 

indifference to human life. Faulk, 928 A.2d at 1070-71; Bruce, 916 A.2d at 

664-65; Frisbie, 889 A.2d at 1273-75.

Appellant also argues that his aggravated assault conviction cannot 

stand because a single unarmed blow to the head is insufficient to show the 

mens rea required for aggravated assault under Commonwealth v. 

Alexander, 383 A.2d 887 (Pa. 1978) and Commonwealth v. Roche, 783 

A.2d 766 (Pa. Super. 2001). That, however, is beside the point, as there was 

evidence at trial that Appellant repeatedly beat Victim in the head. Neither 
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Alexander nor Roche3 nor any of the other cases cited by Appellant holds 

that evidence that the defendant struck the victim in the head multiple times 

is insufficient to prove the mens rea element of the offense of aggravated 

assault.

Because there was evidence admitted at trial from which the jury could 

find that Appellant repeatedly beat Victim in the head with substantial force 

causing permanent disfigurement of her ear, the evidence was sufficient to 

prove the mens rea required by the offenses of aggravated assault, simple 

assault, and reckless endangerment. Appellant’s sole issue in this appeal is 

therefore without merit. Accordingly, we affirm Appellant’s judgment of 

sentence.

Judgment of sentence affirmed. 

Judgment Entered.

Joseph D. Seletyn, Esq.

Prothonotary

Date: 12/22/2022

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3

Indeed, Roche is no longer good law, as this Court overruled Roche in 

Commonwealth v. Burton, 2 A.3d 598 (Pa. Super. 2011) (en banc) and held 

that under some circumstances, a single unarmed blow to the head may be 

sufficient to support an aggravated assault conviction. 2 A.3d 604-05.