Com. v. Benner

• Decision Date: 25 June 2004
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Brian BENNER, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

853 A.2d 1068

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Brian BENNER, Appellant.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted March 15, 2004.

Filed June 25, 2004.

Brett J. Riegel, Stroudsburg, for appellant.

Elmer D. Christine, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., Stroudsburg, for Com., appellee.

Before: STEVENS, TAMILIA, and JOHNSON, JJ.

JOHNSON, J.

¶ 1 Brian Benner appeals the trial court's order denying his Motion for Hearing Regarding Megan's Law Applicability and requiring him to register with law enforcement authorities in accordance with Megan's Law II. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9795.1. Benner contends that he cannot be subject to the provisions of Megan's Law II (Megan's II) because, on the dates of his guilty plea and sentencing, the statute was not in force. Rather, he contends, his conviction may be subject only to the provisions of Megan's Law I (Megan's I). Benner argues further that because Megan's I did not require lifetime registration as does Megan's II, the trial court erred in requiring him to register for life. Upon review, we conclude that the trial court did not err. Accordingly, we affirm the court's order.

¶ 2 This matter arose in anticipation of Benner's release from prison after three years' incarceration for a sex offense. Benner was arrested on November 9, 1998, after he was found engaging in some form of oral sex with his girlfriend's four-year-old daughter. The Commonwealth charged Benner with rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, and indecent assault. On February 23, 1999, Benner entered a negotiated guilty plea to a single count of aggravated indecent assault, 18 Pa.C.S. § 3125, purportedly on the representation of the District Attorney of Monroe County that he would not be subject to the registration provisions of Megan's I, the law then in effect. The trial court, the Honorable Ronald E. Vican, accepted Benner's plea and, on April 14, 1999, imposed a sentence of two and one-half to five year's incarceration minus one day with credit for 170 days time served. Neither party disputes that on all of the foregoing dates, Megan's I remained controlling law and Megan's II had not been enacted.

¶ 3 In November 2003, after the repeal of Megan's I and the effective date of Megan's II, Benner was granted parole. Prison officials insisted that as a condition of his release, Benner register his new address with the Pennsylvania State Police in accordance with 42 Pa.C.S. § 9795.1(b), the registration provision of Megan's II applicable to Benner's crime. Although Benner complied, he also filed the motion at issue, requesting that the court excuse him from further compliance with the registration requirement, based on the provisions of Megan's I in effect on the date of imposition of sentence, and the alleged terms of his negotiated plea. Benner asserted that, with the assistance of counsel, he had crafted his guilty plea to avoid registration under Megan's I, and had not been given a Megan's Law colloquy. He argued accordingly that his plea was involuntary and unlawful. In the alternative, Benner contended that if required to register, he should not be subject to the lifetime registration provisions of Megan's II, but rather to the ten-year provisions of Megan's I. The trial court disagreed, concluding that because the failure of the court to inform a defendant of the registration provisions does not invalidate his plea, the defendant's absence of knowledge similarly cannot excuse compliance with the registration provision. The Court concluded further that Megan's II may be applied retroactively to incarcerated defendants notwithstanding imposition of sentence under the provisions of Megan's I. Accordingly, the court denied Benner's motion and ordered him to comply with the registration provisions of Megan's II. Benner then filed this appeal.

¶ 4 Benner raises the following questions for our review:

1. Whether Mr. Benner should be subject to the lifetime registration requirements of Megan's Law II, when he was subject to only a 10-year registration requirement under Megan's Law I at the time of sentencing?

2. Whether Mr. Benner should be subject to any Megan's Law registration requirement where his guilty plea was unlawfully entered because it was induced, in part, by the District Attorney's agreement not to require registration under Megan's Law I, although such registration was required by statute at the time of the plea and sentencing, and where the sentencing court did not provide notice of the registration at the time of sentencing?

Brief for Appellant at 4. Benner's questions focus on related facets of a single question of law, i.e., whether Benner may be required to register under the provisions of Megan's II. Because Benner's second question poses a threshold issue of whether he can be compelled to register at all, we shall address it first. As with all questions of law, our scope of review is plenary and our standard of review limited to determining whether the trial court committed legal error. See Commonwealth v. Fleming, 801 A.2d 1234, 1236 (Pa.Super.2002) (discussing application of Megan's II); Commonwealth v. Richardson, 784 A.2d 126, 129 (Pa.Super.2001), appeal denied, 568 Pa. 630, 793 A.2d 907 (2002) (discussing application of Megan's I).

¶ 5 In his second question, Benner challenges the trial court's decision to require him to register under either Megan's Law in light of his own expectation that he would not be compelled to register. Brief for Appellant at 7-8. Benner argues that because he had negotiated his plea on the understanding that he would not be subject to registration, and because the trial court did not inform him of the registration requirement, his plea is rendered involuntary. Brief for Appellant at 7-8. Benner premises his position on caselaw recognizing that a defendant's plea is rendered involuntary and his sentence illegal if he is not apprised of the possible duration of the sentence prior to entering his plea. Brief for Appellant at 8 (citing Commonwealth v. Hodges, 789 A.2d 764 (Pa.Super.2002)).

¶ 6 Although we recognize the validity of the proposition of law Benner cites, see Commonwealth v. Persinger, 532 Pa. 317, 615 A.2d 1305, 1307 (1992), we find it inapplicable to the registration requirement under either Megan's Law. Recently, our Supreme Court determined that the registration provisions of Megan's Law do not constitute criminal punishment. See Commonwealth v. Williams, 574 Pa. 487, 832 A.2d 962, 984 (2003). In reliance on Williams, this Court determined that the registration requirement "is properly characterized as a collateral consequence of [the defendant's] plea," as it cannot be considered to have a "definite, immediate and largely automatic effect on [a defendant's] punishment." Commonwealth v. Leidig, 850 A.2d 743 (Pa.Super.2004). We have concluded accordingly that the principles of due process that require the court to inform the defendant of the length of his prospective sentence prior to accepting his plea do not compel the court to inform him of the registration requirement. See id. (collecting cases from other jurisdictions). We have concluded further that even where the defendant is advised incorrectly concerning the version of the statute to be applied and the length of the corresponding registration period, his plea is not rendered involuntary. See id. at 748 (concluding that the fact that defendant "incorrectly was advised that he would be subject to the registration requirements of Megan's Law for a period of ten years, as opposed to a lifetime period," did not invalidate his plea, as registration did not constitute punishment and defendant was aware that some registration requirement applied).

¶ 7 We find the disposition in Leidig controlling. Because the registration requirement under either Megan's Law is a collateral consequence of the defendant's plea, the failure of the court to apprise him of it does not invalidate his plea. Moreover, Benner, like the defendant in Leidig, concedes his awareness of the registration requirement under Megan's I, acknowledging that it was a matter of concern when he entered his plea. Although he contends that he relied on the representation of the District Attorney that he would not be required to register, the record provides no substantiation that the District Attorney ever made such a representation. Moreover, Benner concedes that the law indisputably applicable...