# Commonwealth v. Delbridge

> Supreme Court of Pennsylvania · October 21, 2004 · 580 Pa. 68

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9636885

## Case

- **Full name:** COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Gerald John DELBRIDGE, Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** October 21, 2004
- **Citations:** 580 Pa. 68; 859 A.2d 1254; 2004 Pa. LEXIS 2488
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Eakin
- **Judges:** Zappala, Cappy, Castille, Nigro, Newman, Saylor, Eakin
- **Cited by:** 43 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9636885

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- explaining judicial competency investigations apply in cases where sexual abuse complainants are young children because child’s memory is uniquely susceptible to falsely implanted suggestions which may cause child difficulty in distinguishing fact from fantasy when called to t…
- stating that in the "narrow group of cases, involving allegations of sexual abuse inflicted upon children of tender years, the existence of taint is a threshold question to determining competency."
- stating, “[a]llegations are not evidence”

## Opinion text

Justice EAKIN,
concurring.
In the original consideration of this case, I expressed the belief that without a threshold showing of taint, more than a defendant’s say-so, such allegations should not result in a hearing on competence. Now, there having been nothing more than young victims and defendant’s cry of “taint,” these children have testified one more time, and we are still wrestling with matters which have for years been handled with traditional jurisprudential concepts. As Justice Nigro ably notes again, this is a matter of credibility, not competence, and should have been dealt with accordingly.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9636885. Public record. Not legal advice.