Com. v. Turinski, E., Com. v. Turinski, E. No. 818 MDA 2016

In 2008 Turinski (born 1971) sexually assaulted a 14-year-old victim; charged with statutory sexual assault (SSA).
In September 2015 Turinski pleaded guilty to SSA (graded as a felony of the second degree). The written plea noted "more than 11 yrs older than complainant" and stated he must register under SORNA.
At sentencing (April 14, 2016) the court found Turinski was not a sexually violent predator, sentenced him to 12–36 months’ imprisonment plus 36 months’ probation, and designated him a Tier III SORNA offender (lifetime registration).
Turinski filed a post-sentence motion (denied) and appealed; his Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b) statement was filed late, but the Superior Court reviewed the record on the merits.
On appeal Turinski argued (1) the trial court used an incorrect offense gravity score (OGS of 9 rather than 7) when sentencing, and (2) the court illegally designated him a Tier III offender under SORNA instead of a non-registering or lower-tier offense.

Issue	Commonwealth's Argument	Turinski's Argument	Held
Whether trial court used incorrect OGS leading to an illegal sentence	OGS issue is a discretionary claim; record shows sentence was within guideline range and defense raised OGS at sentencing	OGS was 7 for his conviction but court applied OGS 9 and thus sentenced as if a higher-degree felony	Waived for failure to preserve in post-sentence motion; alternatively meritless because sentence fell within the correct guideline range and record lacks support for OGS 9 assertion
Whether designation as Tier III (lifetime SORNA registration) rendered sentence illegal	SORNA registration is collateral, non-punitive; prior law comparisons and plea/agreement support Tier III designation	Plea charged "four or more years older" and SSA was graded second-degree, so Turinski claims he could only have contemplated the non-registering or lower-tier subsection	Not an illegal sentence; Tier III designation upheld because plea agreement, facts (victim born 1993; defendant 1971), and plea form put defendant on notice and support equating his conviction to the current Tier III subsection

Burton v. Commonwealth, 973 A.2d 428 (Pa. Super. 2009) (untimely Rule 1925(b) filing and remand principles)
Archer v. Commonwealth, 722 A.2d 203 (Pa. Super. 1998) (OGS/misapplication of guidelines implicates discretionary aspects of sentencing)
Bromley v. Commonwealth, 862 A.2d 598 (Pa. Super. 2004) (discretionary-sentencing claims must be preserved in post-sentence motion)
Mann v. Commonwealth, 820 A.2d 788 (Pa. Super. 2003) (preservation required for discretionary-sentencing challenges)
Gaffney v. Commonwealth, 733 A.2d 616 (Pa. 1999) (registration requirements are collateral, non-punitive)
Benner v. Commonwealth, 853 A.2d 1068 (Pa. Super. 2004) (Megan's Law/SORNA registration characterized as collateral consequence)
McDonough v. Commonwealth, 96 A.3d 1067 (Pa. Super. 2014) (relationship between Megan's Law principles and SORNA)
Northrip v. Commonwealth, 985 A.2d 734 (Pa. 2009) (test for comparing foreign/former statutes for equivalence)
Sampolski v. Commonwealth, 89 A.3d 1287 (Pa. Super. 2014) (application of Northrip in SORNA context)
Giannantonio v. Commonwealth, 114 A.3d 429 (Pa. Super. 2015) (SORNA and Adam Walsh Act context)