Court Opinion

ID: 9717949
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 07:13:22.251982+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:56.222550
License: Public Domain

*328WIEAND, Judge,
concurring and dissenting:
I concur in the majority’s decision to award a new trial. The prosecutor’s comments upon appellant’s failure to offer a defense when arrested by the police were improper, and defense counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to object thereto.
I am unable to agree, however, that the evidence was insufficient to sustain a conviction for recklessly endangering another person. Under the Crimes Code, when recklessness suffices to establish an element of an offense, such element is also established if a person acts intentionally or knowingly. In the instant case, a jury could find that, by calling 911 to make a false bomb threat with respect to a high rise home for the elderly, appellant knowingly, intentionally or recklessly engaged in conduct which placed the residents in danger of death or serious bodily injury. Under such circumstances, appellant should have known that an attempt would be made to evacuate the elderly and that because of their age and the high rise feature of the building there was substantial danger of serious bodily injury.