Commonwealth, Aplt. v. Fields, R.Commonwealth, Aplt. v. Fields, R.
Lead Opinion
OPINION
In this appeal by allowance, we consider whether sentences for multiple crimes of violence committed in the same criminal episode are each subject to statutory enhancement, where the sentences are governed by the second-strike provision of Pennsylvania’s recidivist sentencing statute.
In 1992, Appellee forced his way into a woman’s home and sexually assaulted her. He pled guilty to rape and burglary and was sentenced to four to ten years’ imprisonment. Within a month after his release from confinement in 2002, Appellee forced his way into another victim’s residence, brutally attacked and raped her, and robbed her of her money and car. The Commonwealth arrested Appellee and charged him with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse (“IDSI”), robbery, burglary, and related offenses.
Appellee entered an open plea of guilty to all charges. A sentencing hearing was conducted on August 5, 2005. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court applied the second-strike offender portion of Pennsylvania’s recidivism statute, see
(1) Any person who is convicted in any court of this Commonwealth of a crime of violence shall, if at the time of the commission of the current offense the person had previously been convicted of a crime of violence, be sentenced to a minimum sentence of at least ten years of total confinement,*628 notwithstanding any other provision of this title or other statute to the contrary. Upon a second conviction for a crime of violence, the court shall give the person oral and written notice of the penalties under this section for a third conviction for a crime of violence. Failure to provide such notice shall not render the offender ineligible to be sentenced under paragraph (2).
In an unpublished decision, the Superior court vacated Appellee’s judgment of sentence and remanded for resentencing using a single, second-strike ten-year minimum. The court based its decision on this Court’s holding in Commonwealth v. McClintic,
We granted review to assess whether the mandatory minimum sentence set forth in
The Commonwealth argues that the plain language of
Appellee states that the Superior Court correctly applied McClintic and that he “expressly adopts” that court’s rationale. Brief for Appellee at 13.
As explained, the Superior Court relied heavily on McClintic, which addresses the third-strike counterpart to the second-strike provision at issue in this case, and the Commonwealth presently asks us to overrule, or at least limit, that decision to the third-strike context. Thus, we will address the continuing vitality and reach of McClintic before proceeding to further statutory analysis.
As for whether McClintic should be disapproved, we note initially that the question of whether a prior exercise in statutory construction should be overruled is a sensitive one that should only be undertaken when reasonably necessary.
The question we must now address is whether each crime of violence requires its own sentence enhancement____ To answer this question, we look to the language ofSection 9714(a)(2) , which provides that where the person had, at the time of the current offense, i.e., crime of violence, “previously been convicted of two or more such crimes of violence arising from separate criminal transactions,” the sentence enhancement applies.42 Pa.C.S. § 9714(a)(2) (emphasis added). Use of the word “such,” a demonstrative adjective, refers to an antecedent, or a category of things previously mentioned. The category of things previously mentioned is “current offense,” which we have defined as “crime of violence.” Use of the word “such” before the clause “crimes of violence arising from separate criminal transactions” serves to limit the current offense or crimes of violence to which the sentence enhancement applies to those “crimes of violence arising from separate criminal transactions.” Thus, close examination of the specific statutory language, the polestar of all statutory construction, reveals that the legislature intended to apply sentencing enhancements for all crimes arising from a criminal transaction, rather than for each individual crime within such transaction
The McClintic Court was sharply divided over the above analysis. This author dissented, as did Mr. Justice Eakin, whose dissenting opinion was joined by former Justice Newman. Nevertheless, the interpretation was endorsed by a majority of the Court. As such, it enjoys precedential status, and we deny the Commonwealth’s request that it be overruled. Whether McClintic’s reasoning should be seen as extending to subsection (a)(1), however, is a separate question.
As noted, the Superior Court applied McClintic to the present case under a very broad view of McClintic’s holding which would pertain to all repeat offenders. Such application of the holding, however, is not required by its underlying reasoning. The reasoning, as can be seen above, centered on the “such crimes of violence arising from separate criminal transactions” phraseology, which is absent from subsection (a)(1). Thus, we find it most appropriate to resolve this appeal based on the language of subsection (a)(1) instead of simply importing McClintic’s single-enhancement rule into the present context. See Pryor v. United States,
In light of the above, a central issue is whether subsection (a)(1) is materially ambiguous. The subsection is set forth in full in the text above. In material part, it states that “[a]ny person who is convicted ... of a crime of violence shall, if at the time of the commission of the current offense the person had previously been convicted of a crime of violence, be sentenced to a minimum sentence of at least ten years[J”
We do not agree that the singular nature of this phrase either reflects a legislative intention that only one of a series of crimes in a criminal episode be subject to the mandatory minimum sentence, or is sufficient to create a genuine ambiguity. First, giving determinative weight to the singular nature of the word “a” would be in tension with the Statutory Construction Act. See
Finally, it seems likely that, if the General Assembly had intended the particularized result urged by Appellee — whereby, if a second-strike offender commits several crimes of violence in a single criminal episode, the sentencing enhancement applies to only one such crime and ordinary sentencing applies to the others — it would have made its intentions known via language directed to that circumstance. The General Assembly is certainly aware that a defendant may be sentenced for multiple crimes simultaneously. In the context of mandatory minimum sentencing, moreover, it has, on at least one occasion, acted to impose limitations upon multiple sentences where it favors such limitations. See
Nor is our reading of subsection (a)(1) in substantial conflict with the recidivist-philosophy overlay that has been judicially superimposed onto
Accordingly, we hold that
Notes
. Although Appellee had committed two crimes of violence in 1992, he was sentenced at the 2005 proceeding as a second-strike offender, and not a third-strike offender, because he had been sentenced and incarcerated for the earlier offenses on a single occasion. See Commonwealth v. Shiffler,
. The court ruled that the sentences were to run consecutively. Additionally, the court imposed consecutive terms of incarceration for the other offenses, for an aggregate prison term of 45 'k to 91 years.
. That provision states, in relevant part:
(2) Where the person had at the time of the commission of the current offense previously been convicted of two or more such crimes of violence arising from separate criminal transactions, the person shall be sentenced to a minimum sentence of at least 25 years of total confinement....
. The Superior Court acknowledged the Commonwealth’s argument that this case is distinguishable from McClintic because it involves a subsection that lacks the phrase, “such crimes of violence arising from
. The recidivist philosophy applies in the present case to prevent Appellee from being sentenced as a third-strike offender on the basis that he committed multiple crimes of violence as part of his first strike, or that he committed multiple crimes of violence in the present criminal episode. A 25-year minimum sentence under subsection (a)(2) would therefore have been impermissible because Appellee had not previously served a period of incarceration representing the second strike. See supra note 1; see also Shiffler,
. The Defender Association’s argument that a single enhancement for each criminal episode would improve sentencing flexibility is more appropriately forwarded in a legislative forum.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting.
As recounted by the Majority, Rudolph Fields (Appellee) committed four crimes of violence in a single criminal episode in 2002, ten years after pleading guilty to two other crimes of violence in 1992. The trial court considered Appellee to be a second-strike offender four times over, pursuant to the second-strike offender portion of the recidivism statute,
(1) Any person- who is convicted in any court of this Commonwealth of a crime of violence shall, if at the time of the commission of the current offense the person had previously been convicted of a crime of violence, be sentenced to a minimum sentence of at least ten years of total confinement, notwithstanding any other provision of this title or other statute to the contrary. Upon a second conviction for a crime of violence, the court shall give the person oral and written notice of the penalties under this section for a third*637 conviction for a crime of violence. Failure to provide such notice shall not render the offender ineligible to be sentenced under paragraph (2).
The trial court, accordingly, sentenced Appellee to four consecutive second-strike mandatory minimum sentences of ten to twenty years of incarceration for each of the four crimes of violence (40 to 80 years in the aggregate), in addition to consecutive terms of incarceration for related offenses, resulting in a total sentence of confinement of 45$ to 91 years. The Superior Court reversed, relying on our decision in Commonwealth v. McClintic,
Appellee in this case received four second-strike sentences for offenses committed in the same criminal episode, which I believe to be directly contrary to our reasoning in McClintic. Although the Majority offers a textual analysis of the distinct provision applicable to second-strike offenders, see
Although there is additional language in the third-strike provision that is not present in the second-strike provision (“[wjhere the person had at the time of the commission of the current offense previously been convicted of two or more such crimes of violence arising from separate criminal transactions ...” (emphasis added)), each subsection establishes the penalty for a person convicted of a current crime of violence based on a previous conviction of a crime of violence,
In addition,
. This section provides as follows:
(2) Where the person had at the time of the commission of the current offense previously been convicted of two or more such crimes of violence arising from separate criminal transactions, the person shall be sentenced to a minimum sentence of at least 25 years of total confinement, notwithstanding any other provision of this title or other statute to the contrary. Proof that the offender received notice of or otherwise knew or should have known of the penalties under this paragraph shall not be required. Upon conviction for a third or subsequent crime of violence the court may, if it determines that 25 years of total confinement is insufficient to protect the public safety, sentence the offender to life imprisonment without parole.