Court Opinion

ID: 9785202
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 21:09:04.373161+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:10.544358
License: Public Domain

Justice EAKIN,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. This conviction is not infirm and should stand.
A conviction of attempted unlawful contact with a minor requires the offense to be “the same grade and degree as the most serious underlying offense ... for which [appellee] contacted the minor....” 18 Pa.C.S. § 6318(b)(1). Nothing requires the underlying offense to be charged, and there need be no proof that it was committed or even attempted. Appellee clearly contacted the party he thought to be a minor with the intent to commit the offense of rape. He gave instructions to skip school, and drove to a pre-determined location “to meet *647[her] and have physical contact that could have led to sex.” Majority op., at 634, 9 A.3d at 1141. Appellant was interrupted in his purpose, resulting in counts of attempt to rape rather than accomplishment of rape, but he nonetheless attempted the contact for the purpose of rape.
The jury was given two crimes relevant here, which I will abbreviatedly call attempted contact and attempted rape. Acquittal of the latter certainly does not preclude conviction of the former, for they are distinct offenses. The latter required proof of a substantial step toward accomplishing the actual rape. The former, however, required only proof that he took a substantial step toward contacting the minor for the purpose of rape, not a step toward the rape itself. As there was no actual minor, and as actual attempt at sex was interrupted by appellee’s arrest, it is not difficult to understand the finding he did not take a substantial step toward actual commission of rape. Such a result does not matter to the attempted contact count, as the contact with relevant intent was already attempted and complete by this time.
Acquittal of attempted rape does not mean the jury found appellee’s purpose in contacting her was not rape — indeed, that is exactly what it did find his purpose to have been. The jury never found he attempted contact without the intent to have sex with her — it only means the prosecution did not prove he took a further step toward accomplishing the rape. He unquestionably took a substantial step toward contacting her for purposes of rape, even though he did not take a substantial step toward actually raping her — for purposes of determining the grade of crime, this is all that is required.
Commonwealth v. Magliocco, 584 Pa. 244, 883 A.2d 479 (2005), dealt with a statute where commission of the underlying offense was required. Such accomplishment is not needed here though — only proof of attempted contact with requisite intent, not proof of a further step toward accomplishment after contact. Accordingly, I must respectfully dissent.
Justice McCAFFERY joins this opinion.