Commonwealth v. Aldrich

Affirming a conviction under Pennsylvania’s abuse of corpse statute, 18 Pa.C.S. § 5510, the Superior Court held that the statute is drafted in broad terms reaching both acts and omissions, and that inaction alone — knowingly permitting a corpse to decompose — is sufficient to satisfy the actus reus. Concealment is not a required element. On the mens rea, the Court held that a defendant need not anticipate that the family will view the body; it is enough that a reasonable person would understand that allowing a corpse to deteriorate would outrage ordinary family sensibilities. The decision extends Smith and Hutchison into the professional funeral-services context.