Com. v. Johnson

• Citation: 669 A.2d 315,542 Pa. 568
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Stephon JOHNSON, Appellee.
• Decision Date: 27 December 1995
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Page 315

669 A.2d 315

542 Pa. 568

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Stephon JOHNSON, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Sept. 19, 1995.

Decided Dec. 27, 1995.

[542 Pa. 571] Jenifer Shirey, Erie, for the Commonwealth.

John M. Bonanti, Erie, for Appellee.

Before NIX, C.J., and FLAHERTY, ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE and MONTEMURO, JJ.

OPINION

MONTEMURO, Justice.

This is an appeal from the Opinion and Order of the Superior Court of Pennsylvania (en banc ), affirming the Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Erie County, Juvenile Division. While we disagree with the reasoning set forth by the Superior Court, we nevertheless affirm the result.

On October 28, 1991, Appellee Stephon Johnson was charged with the crimes of Criminal Homicide, ¹ Criminal Conspiracy (to commit robbery), ² Robbery, ³ Theft by Unlawful Taking, ⁴ and Receiving Stolen Property ⁵ for his involvement in an incident on October 18, 1991, which resulted in the death of Richard Stevens, an Erie cab driver.

The record reveals that on October 18, 1991, Johnson and his co-defendants had a friend call for a cab. Intending to rob the cab driver, they directed the driver to a dark and deserted place. Eventually, one of Johnson's co-defendants, Ricardo Noble, shot the cab driver in the head. They all ran from the scene, with Johnson grabbing a clipboard and a satchel from the cab.

Johnson was only sixteen (16) years old at the time of the incident, but pursuant to 42 Pa.C.S. § 6355(e), ⁶ he was charged as an adult. Johnson filed a petition under 42 Pa.C.S. § 6322, ⁷ requesting that his case be transferred to the juvenile division. This petition was granted, and Johnson was adjudicated delinquent. The Commonwealth appealed, questioning the propriety of the order transferring the case to the juvenile division.

This case presents several important questions for our review. The first is whether an order transferring a murder case from the Criminal Division of the Court of Common Pleas to the Juvenile Division of the Court of Common Pleas, pursuant to section 6322 of the Juvenile Act, 42 Pa.C.S. § 6301, et. seq., is an interlocutory order that cannot be appealed until a final disposition of the case has been made. The second issue deals with whether the appeal of an order transferring a murder case from the criminal division to the juvenile division, pursuant to section 6322, taken after the disposition of the case by the juvenile division, is barred by the double jeopardy protections of the United States and Pennsylvania Constitutions. Finally, assuming the appeal is timely and criminal prosecution is not barred, we must determine whether the lower court committed gross abuse of discretion by transferring Johnson's case to the juvenile division.

In support of its contention that the appeal is timely, the Commonwealth relying on section 6355(f) ⁸ of the Juvenile Act, asserts that all transfer orders are interlocutory; therefore, it was required to wait until Johnson's adjudication and disposition was final, before it could appeal the transfer order.

Section 6355(f) only expressly governs transfers from the juvenile division to the criminal division. The Commonwealth argues that we can infer that the legislature intended to treat all transfers between the two divisions in the same way. However, this argument ignores the practical difference between the two situations. Overwhelmingly, a challenge to an order transferring a case from the juvenile division to the criminal division will be made by the juvenile. Therefore, by asserting the challenge, the juvenile impliedly waives his claim to relief under the double jeopardy clause. Forman v. United States, 361 U.S. 416, 80 S.Ct. 481, 4 L.Ed.2d 412 (1960), reh'g denied, 362 U.S. 937, 80 S.Ct. 749, 4 L.Ed.2d 751 overruled on other grounds, United States v. Goodwin, 457 U.S. 368, 102 S.Ct. 2485, 73 L.Ed.2d 74 (1982). On the other hand, a challenge to an order transferring a case from the criminal division to the juvenile division will generally be asserted by the Commonwealth. As such, there is no waiver by the juvenile of his right to be free from double jeopardy.

In Breed v. Jones, 421 U.S. 519, 95 S.Ct. 1779, 44 L.Ed.2d 346 (1975), the Supreme Court of the United States established that the double jeopardy doctrine precludes criminal prosecution, following an adjudication of delinquency by a juvenile court. Id. However, this principle is premised on the assumption that the adjudicatory hearing was properly convened and the court was acting within its jurisdiction. 18 Pa.C.S. § 112. See also Commonwealth v. Keenan, 365 Pa.Super. 437, 530 A.2d 90 (1987) (reprosecution on same charges in court with jurisdiction not barred by double jeopardy, following setting aside of guilty verdict and ordering of new trial for lack of subject matter jurisdiction in original court). Accordingly, if a transfer to the juvenile division is proper, then jurisdiction would vest with the juvenile division, jeopardy would attach at the initiation of the adjudicatory hearing, and subsequent criminal prosecution would be barred. A problem arises, however, when the transfer is improper. In those instances, the case should have remained in the criminal division and no action should have been taken by the juvenile division. This raises the questions of whether jurisdiction ever vested with the juvenile division and whether jeopardy attached with the adjudication by that division.

In Commonwealth v. Greiner, 479 Pa. 364, 388 A.2d 698 (1978), this Court dealt with the propriety of a transfer from the juvenile division to the criminal division. We concluded that the transfer was improper and that the criminal division had acted without authority to convict and sentence the juvenile. Accordingly, we vacated the sentence and remanded the case for disposition by the juvenile division. ⁹ This Court has not, however, dealt with an appeal challenging the propriety of a transfer from the criminal division to the juvenile division and the repercussions that flow therefrom.

In this case, the Superior Court found that section 952 of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 952, which provides:

The divisions of a court of common pleas are administrative units composed of those judges of the court responsible for the transaction of specified classes of business of the court. In a court of common pleas having two or more divisions each division of the court is vested with the full jurisdiction of the whole court, but the business of the court may be allocated among the divisions of the court by or pursuant to general rules.

controlled the jurisdictional issue. Id. The court interpreted this provision to mean that no division has separate or exclusive subject matter jurisdiction, rather every division has jurisdiction to hear any matter that could be brought in the court of common pleas.

To support its interpretation, the Superior Court cites Commonwealth v. Wadzinski, 485 Pa. 247, 401 A.2d 1129 (1978), on remand, 266 Pa.Super. 56, 403 A.2d 91 (1979), reversed on other grounds, 492 Pa. 35, 422 A.2d 124 (1980). However, this case is more appropriately cited for its resolution of a procedural flaw. Id. 485 Pa. at 255, 401 A.2d at 1133. Here, the appellant erroneously filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the court of common pleas. Id. at 251, 401 A.2d at 1130. The proper procedure would have been to file a petition for a general appeal and a hearing de novo. Id. Before the restructuring of the court of common pleas, this latter appeal could only be heard by the Court of Quarter Sessions. As that court was abolished with the restructuring, a general appeal would now be heard by the court of common pleas. Therefore, the court was not confronted with a true conflict between jurisdiction of two divisions of the court of common pleas, rather it was simply required to determine what scope of review to apply. As the court recognized that the problem was merely a procedural flaw in the filing of the petition, it treated the case as though appellant properly filed for a general appeal. Id. at 255, 401 A.2d at 1133.

The Superior Court also cites Guerin v. Guerin, 296 Pa.Super. 400, 442 A.2d 1112 (1982), which stated that since each division of a court of common pleas is vested with the full jurisdiction of the whole court, any division would have jurisdiction over the action at issue, regardless of whether it was the division to which this type of case had been administratively assigned. Id. at 404 n. 3, 442 A.2d at 1113-14 n. 3. However, this statement by the court is merely dicta, as the case did not question the jurisdiction of the lower court that dismissed the complaint.

Finally, the Superior Court cites Hollman v. Hollman, 347 Pa.Super. 289, 500 A.2d 837 (1985), for the proposition that the question of which division of the court of common pleas is the proper forum for commencing an action is not one of jurisdiction, but of internal common pleas court administration. Id. at 319, 500 A.2d at 852. The basis for the decision in Hollman can be traced to Posner v. Sheridan, 451 Pa. 51, 299 A.2d 309 (1973). The court appears to treat a statement made in the opening paragraph of the Posner opinion as part of this Court's holding. In this paragraph, this Court stated that "[t]he question that this case presents is not one of jurisdiction but of internal common pleas court administration." Id. at 55, 299 A.2d at 311. However, reliance on Posner for this proposition seems to ignore the fact that this Court ultimately vacated the decree, stating that "the issue was improperly entertained in the family court division, and, more importantly, that court's decree was incorrect as a matter of law." Id. at 57, 299 A.2d at 312 (emphasis added). Moreover, this court went on to note that the case at bar fell within the jurisdiction of the civil division. Id. at 59 n. 7, 299 A.2d at 313 n. 7 (emphasis added).

If we were to follow the...