Commonwealth v. Kiessling, DePasqua, and Murphy

Summary

The Pennsylvania Superior Court affirmed orders dismissing with prejudice criminal informations charging county child-welfare employees with endangering the welfare of children. The court held that the record was sufficient for appellate review without supplementing it with all grand-jury evidence and concluded that immunity under the Child Protective Services Law applied to the alleged conduct. The court rejected the Commonwealth's arguments that the statutory immunity provision did not cover the employees' conduct or that their alleged actions rebutted the presumption of good faith.

Holdings

1. The trial court properly denied the Commonwealth's motion to supplement the certified record because the presentment, which was incorporated into the affidavits of probable cause and adopted as an accurate summary of the grand-jury testimony, supplied a sufficient factual record, and appellate courts do not engage in fact-finding.
2. To the extent the prosecution was premised on the appellees' testimony or failure to provide information in a proceeding arising from suspected child abuse or general protective services, § 6318(a)(3) protected the appellees from criminal liability, and the Commonwealth's allegations did not overcome the statutory good-faith presumption.
3. Section 6318(b) immunizes county-agency employees from civil and criminal liability arising from their provision of services authorized by the Child Protective Services Law, including the alleged conduct concerning the investigation, risk assessment, protective services, and communication with the dependency court. The immunity is functional rather than merely employment-based and is not subject under the statute's plain language to the good-faith requirement in § 6318(a).

Questions Presented

1. Whether the appellees were immune from criminal prosecution under 23 Pa.C.S. § 6318 for conduct arising from their provision of child-protective services.
2. Whether the trial court erred by denying the Commonwealth's motion to supplement the certified record with the evidence presented to the investigating grand jury.

Disposition

affirmed