Com. v. Aziz

• Decision Date: 22 January 1999
• Citation: 724 A.2d 371
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Zakee AZIZ, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

724 A.2d 371

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Zakee AZIZ, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued October 29, 1998.

Filed January 22, 1999.

Mark S. Sedley, Public Defender, Philadelphia, for appellant.

Michael Erlich, Asst. Dist. Atty., Philadelphia, for Commonwealth, Appellee.

Before MUSMANNO, J., CERCONE, President Judge Emeritus and BECK, J.

BECK, J.

¶ 1 In this appeal, we are confronted with a host of constitutional challenges to the recently amended Juvenile Act, 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6301-65 ("the Act"). Because we find that none of the claims warrants that we strike the Act on constitutional grounds, we affirm.

¶ 2 At age seventeen, Appellant was charged with armed robbery and related offenses. Pursuant to the terms of the Act, his case went directly to criminal court, where he had the option of requesting treatment within the juvenile system and the burden of establishing that he was entitled to same. This process of "decertification" from criminal court to juvenile court was for decades only applicable to murder cases; however, the 1995 amendments to the Act now provide that any juvenile over the age of fifteen who has committed one of several enumerated crimes, and utilized a deadly weapon during that commission, is to be tried in criminal court unless he can establish by a preponderance of the evidence that a transfer to juvenile court would serve the public interest. 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6302; 6322. This rebuttable presumption of treatment as an adult now extends to a variety of crimes, including rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated assault, robbery, kidnapping, voluntary manslaughter and conspiracy to commit any of these crimes.¹

¶ 3 As he did in the trial court, appellant makes a series of constitutionally based arguments regarding the amended Act's considerably wider net. We begin by noting that "duly enacted legislation carries with it a strong presumption of constitutionality and this presumption will not be overturned unless the legislation clearly, plainly and palpably violates the constitution." Commonwealth v. Swinehart, 541 Pa. 500, 508, 664 A.2d 957, 961 (1995). "The party seeking to have a legislative enactment declared unconstitutional bears a heavy burden." Id.; 1 Pa.C.S.A. § 1922(3).

¶ 4 Not surprisingly, a number of appellant's claims have been confronted and resolved by our supreme court in the context of murder cases. Appellant argues that those cases have "limited applicability" in this case. We disagree. To the extent that the murder cases set forth the standard by which specific constitutional challenges should be considered, we find them not only relevant, but binding. Further, where those cases provide analysis of and insight into the underlying purposes of the Act, we will adhere to their reasoning. We address each claim separately.

¶ 5 Appellant first argues that the Act's provisions are not rationally related to its purposes and, further, that its application is arbitrary. If true, this would constitute a violation of equal protection and due process. Commonwealth v. Wade, 485 Pa. 453, 402 A.2d 1360 (1979).

¶ 6 At a hearing in the trial court, appellant was permitted to incorporate the testimony of Dr. Jeffrey Fagan, a juvenile law expert who testified in another case regarding juvenile punishment and recidivism. Dr. Fagan studied the precise issue appellant sought to bring to the court's attention, i.e., the relative "success" of treating juvenile offenders in criminal court. Dr. Fagan's opinion was that adult treatment of juvenile offenders does not prevent those individuals from committing more crimes once they are released; instead, the likelihood of recidivism for this group is enhanced. See Jeffrey Fagan, "The Comparative Advantages of Juvenile Versus Criminal Court Sanctions on Recidivism Among Adolescent Felony Offenders," Law and Policy, Vol. 18, Nos. 1 and 2 (January/April 1996).

¶ 7 Relying on Dr. Fagan's conclusions, appellant asserts that the purpose underlying the Act, public safety, is endangered by the Act's provisions, not advanced. As a result, there is lacking even a rational relationship between the Act's intent and its terms.

¶ 8 The Commonwealth responds with a number of arguments. It notes first that Dr. Fagan's studies were made in New York and New Jersey, not in Pennsylvania. The relevance of such studies, asserts the Commonwealth, is therefore questionable. Further, even conceding the validity and the applicability of the studies, the Commonwealth suggests that Dr. Fagan's results could be interpreted as supportive of the amended Act. They may reflect the fact that some youthful offenders, perhaps those committing the most serious of crimes, do not respond to rehabilitative measures. When viewed in this way, the Commonwealth submits, the Act is quite rational since by its terms, it reserves juvenile treatment for those likely to respond to it.

¶ 9 The Commonwealth also asserts that appellant is wrong when he states that specific deterrence is the sole purpose underlying the Act. Instead, the Commonwealth argues, holding violent juvenile offenders accountable for their actions is another goal of the statute, as is the incapacitation of those persons. Drawing the line for juvenile treatment to exclude initially young people who commit violent crimes while armed with deadly weapons is an inherently rational decision, so argues the Commonwealth.

¶ 10 In Wade, our supreme court faced constitutional challenges to the Act in the context of a murder charge. The Wade court specifically framed the issue before the court as "whether excluding the crime of murder from the original jurisdiction of Juvenile Court bears a rational relationship to the legislative objective sought to be advanced by the Juvenile Act." Id. at 461-63, 402 A.2d at 1364. In finding that it did, the court noted that the purpose underlying the Act was not only to rehabilitate juvenile offenders, but also to protect the public interest and promote public safety. Id. The legislature decided that murder is a crime of "such a serious nature" as to be precluded, at least initially, from the special benefits of the Act. Considering the goal of public safety, reasoned the court, the decision was not arbitrary and instead bore a rational relationship to the Act's objectives. Id. 402 A.2d at 1365.

¶ 11 We believe the reasoning in Wade applies in this case. The rationale is even more compelling today since the amended Act redefined the purposes of the statute. In the amended language of the Act, the General Assembly retained the goals of preserving family unity, providing care and protection to juveniles, minimizing, where feasible, separation of a child from his or her parents, and assuring fair and equitable proceedings. It also made significant additions to the Act's stated goals. No longer does the Act seek to "remove children from the consequences of criminal behavior"; instead, its goal is to "provide balanced attention" to the interests of protecting the community, imposing accountability and developing "responsible and productive members of the community." 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 6301(b)(2).

¶ 12 In light of this new language, and in reliance on the rationale in Wade, we find that the amendments to the Act, which cause juveniles accused of the enumerated offenses to appear first in criminal court, are not arbitrary and instead are rationally related to the statute's objectives. The commission of a violent crime while armed with a gun is conduct of "such a serious nature" as to initially preclude an individual from the juvenile system.

¶ 13 Appellant next argues that the Act creates an "irrebuttable presumption" of adult treatment, contrary to the right of due process. He relies on Pennsylvania Department of Transportation v. Clayton, 546 Pa. 342, 684 A.2d 1060 (1996), wherein our supreme court found unconstitutional a statute that prohibited seizure victims from driving for one year. In Clayton, the aggrieved individual had no method of rebutting the presumption that he was unfit to drive.

¶ 14 The Juvenile Act, of course, is far different from the law in Clayton. Here, appellant is afforded an opportunity to establish that he belongs in the juvenile system. A separate section of the statute not only contemplates a hearing on the issue of decertification, but sets forth the procedure to be utilized at such hearing, including the allocation of burdens and the factors to be considered. See 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 6322; 6355. The Act's presumption of adult treatment for specific offenses simply is not irrebuttable.²

¶ 15 Appellant next takes issue with the fact that he bears the burden of establishing that he is amenable to treatment within the juvenile system and that such treatment will serve the public interest. He asserts that "fundamental due process requires that the burden of proof in criminal matters remains with the state throughout any criminal prosecution ... because the presumption of innocence may not be compromised." See Commonwealth v. Wagaman, 426 Pa.Super. 396, 627 A.2d 735 (Pa.Super.), appeal denied, 536 Pa. 623, 637 A.2d 283 (1993).

¶ 16 In response, the Commonwealth relies on Commonwealth v. Cotto, 708 A.2d 806 (Pa.Super.1998). There, a panel of this court addressed this precise issue. Abraham Cotto was charged in criminal court for multiple counts of gunpoint robbery and conspiracy offenses he committed at age fifteen. He sought decertification to juvenile court but was denied same. He pled guilty and specifically reserved the right to challenge the constitutionality of the Act. On appeal, he raised two distinct issues: whether the Act was unconstitutionally vague by requiring that transfers "serve the public interest" and whether the Act was unconstitutional because it placed the burden of proof on the accused to establish amenability to treatment in the juvenile system.

¶ 17 The Cotto court began its analysis by observing that...