Commonwealth v. Alceus

315 A.3d 853

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania

v.Fauslet ALCEUS, Appellant

No. 534 MDA 2023

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted January 22, 2024

Filed: May 8, 2024

Appeal from the PCRA Order Entered March 22, 2023, In the Court of Common Pleas of Dauphin County, Criminal Division, at No(s): CP-22-CR-0005177-2017, Deborah E. Curcillo, J.

Todd M. Mosser, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Ryan H. Lysaght, Deputy District Attorney, Harrisburg, for Commonwealth, appellee.

BEFORE: OLSON, J., NICHOLS, J., and BECK, J.

OPINION BY BECK, J.:

Fauslet Alceus ("Alceus") appeals from the order entered by the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas denying his first petition filed pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act ("PCRA")¹ after an evidentiary hearing. Alceus claims that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate or call character witnesses in support of his defense. Upon review, we apply longstanding precedent to conclude that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to investigate or call character witnesses in support of Alceus’ defense because (1) there were only two direct witnesses providing conflicting accounts of what occurred (the classic "he said/she said" case); (2) character evidence would have bolstered counsel’s strategy of establishing the alleged victim was lying; and (3) Alceus was prejudiced by trial counsel’s omissions. We therefore reverse the order of the PCRA court and remand for proceedings consistent with this decision.

In a prior decision, this Court summarized the facts underlying Alceus’ convictions as follows:

On the night of September 8, 2017[,] and into the early morning of September 9, 2017, Angelica Fernandez Rodriguez [("Rodriguez")] was staying at her mother’s home in Harrisburg with her fivechildren. Rodriguez, also five months pregnant, was planning on leaving her husband, [Alceus]. While sleeping in the early morning of September 9, 2017, Rodriguez was awoken by [Alceus] physically beating her. [Alceus] was able to gain access to the apartment building because the entrance to the apartment building was broken at the time. Rodriguez's 8-year-old son opened the apartment door for [Alceus] after he knocked. [Alceus] was screaming at her while the children watched him physically punch her body with closed fists. At one point, [Alceus] put both hands around her neck, Rodriguez attempted to get her crying [ ] twins, [who were about thirteen months old,] but ended up falling with them due to what she believed to be a broken leg. Rodriguez attempted to leave the situation[;] however[,] she had a hurt leg and was holding one twin in each arm. While [Rodriguez was] sitting against a wall, with her twins, [Alceus] used both hands around her neck until Rodriguez had difficulty breathing, became lightheaded, and had blurred vision. Rodriguez was not able to get to a cell phone to call for help because it was broken during the fight. [Alceus], knowing that [Rodriguez] was pregnant, continued to kick her along her stomach area.

Still angry, [Alceus] left Rodtiguez’[s] mother’s home as the sun came up. [Rodriguez’s mother] came home later in the day and took Rodriguez and her children to Harrisburg Hospital.

On September 9, 2017, Officer Matthew Gallup was … dispatched to Harrisburg Hospital for a report of an assault [and was then] directed to Rodriguez’[s] hospital room. Rodriguez indicated that she had been assaulted. Officer Gallup observed physical injuries on her face, including a swollen right eye, redness down her cheek, and scratches on her left eye, cheek area, and neck. She also complained of knee and side pain. [Rodriguez] also indicated to Officer Gallup that she had been kicked or assaulted in her stomach area. [She] completed a domestic violence statement form[, as well as] a strangulation questionnaire. [Both forms were] in the victim’s own handwriting and in [her] own words. Rodriguez told Officer Gallup that [Alceus] was the one who assaulted her and her children.

Officer Gallup observed Rodriguez’[s] twins at the hospital. The male twin had a large lump on his forehead with an abrasion as well as a cut on the other side of his face and on his eyebrow. The female twin had a small cut or laceration on the top of her head towards the back of her head and side of her hair. [A] forensics officer[ ] came to the [hospital] to take photos of the twins and Rodriguez in the presence of Officer Gallup.

* * *

… [N]urse Faith Dreibelbis was working as a triage nurse [when Rodriguez and her children arrived] at the hospital at approximately 6:45 in the evening [on September 9, 2017.] Rodriguez told [Nurse] Dreibelbis that she had been assaulted. Rodriguez received an X-ray of her knee[ and] her spine, as well as an ultrasound. [Nurse] Dreibelbis observed a laceration above the eyebrow and alon[g] the right hairline of the male twin, and a laceration on the scalp of the female twin. [Nurse] Dreibelbis also observed redness and scratches along the male twin’s back that were not depicted in photographs.

[Nurse] Dreibelbis contacted [the] YWCA upon request of Rodriguez and a representative came to be with her when she was in the emergency department. She also contacted Harrisburg Police Department, which is typical practicewhen patients report that they have been assaulted. [Rodriguez] was discharged from the hospital around 1:00 a.m. on September 10, 2017. The children were discharged at 10:46 p.m. on September 9, 2017.

Commonwealth v. Alceus, 623 MDA 2020, 2021 WL 37460 at *1-2 (Pa. Super. Jan. 5, 2021) (non-precedential decision) (citation omitted; ellipses and some brackets in original).

Police subsequently arrested Alceus and the Commonwealth charged him with aggravated assault; aggravated assault of a victim less than 6 and defendant 18 or older (two counts); aggravated assault of an unborn child; strangulation - applying pressure to throat or neck; endangering the welfare of a child (two counts); and corruption of minors.² The matter proceeded to a jury trial in October 2019. The Commonwealth presented the testimony of Rodriguez, Officer Gallup and Nurse Dreibelbis; the medical records of Rodriguez and the twins documenting their injuries; Rodriguez’s statements at the hospital; and photographs of their injuries. Alceus testified in his own defense, which this Court previously summarized:

[Alceus] … denied he committed the assault on Rodriguez and the twins. He claimed he was not at Rodriguez’s mother’s apartment on the night of the incident, and that his relationship with Rodriquez had ended in early July 2017. [Alceus] claimed that on the evening of September 8, 2017, he was at the Hollywood Casino with a friend[, Paulin Thiombiano ("Thiombiano"),] until midnight. They then returned to [Thiomblano's] apartment, where he had been staying.^[fn] [Alceus] testified they talked for "a couple hours," and went to sleep around 2:00 a.m. on September 9th. He claimed that Rodriguez’s mother called him around 2:00 p.m. that afternoon, which was the first time he learned of the allegations. [Alceus] denied ever harming Rodriguez or their children, and testified he had last seen Rodriguez on September 2, 2017.^[fn]

[Alceus] also stated his car was "broken" at the time, so [Thiombiano] drove them to the casino and back home. N.T., 10/21/[20]19, at 128-29.

Alceus, 623 MDA 2020, 2021 WL 37460 at *2 (record citations omitted; footnote in original). After Alceus' testimony, the jury was shown a video of a Child Resource Center ("CRC") interview with one of Rodriguez’s minor children, T.R., who was present at the time of the incident. Id. (citing N.T., 10/21/2019, at 141).

Following trial, a jury convicted Alceus of all charges. On January 29, 2020, the trial court sentenced Alceus to an aggregate term of seven to fourteen years of incarceration, followed by six years of probation. This Court affirmed his judgment of sentence and on June 28, 2021, our Supreme Court denied his petition for allowance of appeal. See Alceus, 623 MDA 2020, 2021 WL 37460, appeal denied, 257 A.3d 1212 (Pa. 2021).

On August 15, 2022, Alceus timely filed a counseled PCRA petition, his first. After the Commonwealth filed a response to the petition, Alceus filed an amended PCRA petition. Alceus contended that he was entitled to relief because trial counsel was ineffective in failing to call an alibi witness and failing to discuss, investigate, or call any character witnesses in Alceus’ defense.

The PCRA court held an evidentiary hearing on January 17, 2023, at which the court heard testimony from trial counsel, Alceus, and several character witnesses for Alceus. Wesley Laroque ("Laroque") testi- fied that he had known Alceus for many years, dating back to when the two were younger and living in Haiti. N.T., 1/17/2023, at 12-13. He stated he was willing to testify at Alceus’ trial and would have testified that Alceus has a good reputation for being peaceful in the small community of Haitians living near Central Dauphin High School. Id. at 14-15.

Thiombiano, who stated he was also willing and available to testify at Alceus’ trial, testified that he had known Alceus for seven years and met him while working at a warehouse. Id. at 18. He likewise would have testified to Alceus’ good reputation in the Harrisburg Haitian community for being peaceful. Id. at 29-30. Thiombiano further testified in support of Alceus’ alibi, stating that he was with Alceus the night Rodriguez was injured. Id. at 24, 31.

Alceus was prepared to present the testimony of a third potential character witness, Jean Coulange ("Coulange"). Because of time constraints, however, the parties stipulated that Coulange would have provided the same character-related testimony as the prior two witnesses—that Alceus had a good reputation in the community for peacefulness and that he would have been willing and available to testify at trial. Id. at 37.

Alceus also testified at the PCRA hearing. He stated that he asked trial counsel to call Thiombiano as a...