The opinion
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2026 PA Super 70
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
:
DAMIEN MANCUSO :
:
Appellant : No. 247 MDA 2024
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered July 21, 2023
In the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County Criminal Division at
No(s): CP-35-CR-0001822-2020
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
:
SEAN DAVID MANCUSO :
:
Appellant : No. 280 MDA 2024
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered July 21, 2023
In the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County Criminal Division at
No(s): CP-35-CR-0001774-2020
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF
: PENNSYLVANIA
:
v. :
:
:
RIAN DANA MANCUSO :
:
Appellant : No. 432 MDA 2024
Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered July 21, 2023
In the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County Criminal Division at
No(s): CP-35-CR-0001773-2020
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BEFORE: BOWES, J., STABILE, J., and STEVENS, P.J.E.*
CONCURRING STATEMENT BY STEVENS, P.J.E.: FILED APRIL 10, 2026
I join the Majority decision which contains a thorough and thoughtful
analysis of the relevant law as applied to the issues raised by each appellant.
The factual circumstances in this case leave this panel no choice but to
reverse Appellant Damien Mancuso’s conviction in that Damien’s due process
rights were violated when the prosecution failed to fix the date of the charged
offense with reasonable certainty.
While I recognize the difficulties and emotional burden a sexual assault
victim faces in bringing allegations of abuse to the attention of law
enforcement to prosecute a perpetrator, the burden is on the Commonwealth
to make a conscientious effort to assist the victim in narrowing the timeline of
the charged allegations. Our Supreme Court’s decision in Commonwealth
v. Devlin, 460 Pa. 508, 333 A.2d 888 (1975) and subsequent precedential
law highlights the need for the prosecution to fix the date of the offense with
“reasonable certainty” in order to provide the accused an adequate
opportunity to defend himself.
This point becomes especially important when a victim delays bringing
formal allegations of a sexual assault. There are many legitimate reasons a
victim, especially a minor, might delay reporting an assault, such as fear of
not being believed, shame, intimidation by the perpetrator, shock and
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* Former Justice specially assigned to the Superior Court.
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anguish, repressed memories and many other reasons recognized by the law
and behavioral experts.
Our Legislature has acknowledged the reality of the delayed disclosure
of sexual assault victims and has largely eliminated the criminal statute of
limitations for sexual offenses committed against minors to allow victims more
time to seek justice.1 However, due process requires that the prosecution
narrow the date of the alleged offense with reasonable particularity so that a
defendant is not saddled with a fundamentally unfair burden of defending
himself against a charged crime that allegedly occurred within an overly broad
time frame in the distant past.
While it is well-established that the Commonwealth need not provide a
single specific date of the charged crime, the circumstances of this case do
not allow us to provide the Commonwealth with the latitude it seeks in
violation of fundamental fairness. I agree with the Majority’s determination
that the prosecution in this case failed to set forth the date of Damien
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1 See 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5551(7) (eliminating the criminal statute of limitations
for the following crimes committed against a victim under the age of 18:
trafficking, involuntary sexual servitude, rape, statutory sexual assault,
involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, institutional sexual
assault, aggravated indecent assault, incest, or conspiracy or solicitation to
commit any such offenses); 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 5552(c)(3) (extending statute of
limitations to allow victims under the age of 18 to seek criminal remedies until
age 55 for the following crimes: indecent assault, indecent exposure,
endangering the welfare of a child, corruption of minors, sexual abuse of
children, sexual exploitation of children, or conspiracy or solicitation to commit
any such offenses).
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Mancuso’s criminal conduct with sufficient particularity required to satisfy due
process standards.
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