Com. v. Scolieri

• Decision Date: 31 December 2002
• Citation: 813 A.2d 672,571 Pa. 658
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Joseph SCOLIERI, Appellant.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

813 A.2d 672

571 Pa. 658

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Joseph SCOLIERI, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued September 11, 2002.

Decided December 31, 2002.

Jerome DeRiso, Pittsburgh, for Joseph Scolieri.

Carla M. DiCicco, Sally Katherine Kaye, Pittsburgh, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Before ZAPPALA, C.J., and CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR and EAKIN, JJ.

OPINION

Justice NEWMAN.

Notwithstanding the seriousness with which we consider the problem of underage drinking, we must accept that when the General Assembly selects words to use in a statute, it has chosen them purposefully. 1 Pa.C.S. § 1921(b). We cannot change those words to reflect our own public policy concerns, nor can we edit them based on the supposition that we know what the General Assembly meant to say when it said something different. Where, as here, we do not believe that application of the words of the General Assembly would yield an absurd or unconstitutional result, we accord them their plain meaning, even if we may have drafted the statute differently. 1 Pa.C.S. §§ 1903, 1922. For the reasons set forth herein, we reverse the Order of the Superior Court.

This appeal involves the interpretation of Section 6310.1(a) of the Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S. § 6310.1(a), entitled "Selling or furnishing liquor or malt or brewed beverages to minors," which the Commonwealth contends Joseph Scolieri (hereinafter, Appellant) violated. The statute provides, in pertinent part:

[A] person commits a misdemeanor of the third degree if he intentionally and knowingly sells or intentionally and knowingly furnishes, or purchases with the intent to sell or furnish, any liquor or malt or brewed beverages to a person who is less than 21 years of age.

Id. (emphasis added).¹ Although the trial court convicted Appellant of violating Section 6301(a) of the Crimes Code, it found that the Commonwealth "failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knew that the person served was less than 21 years of age."² The question for us is whether the terms of Section 6310.1(a) of the Crimes Code required the Commonwealth to prove that Appellant knew that the purchaser was a minor.³

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

On February 18, 2000, police arrested Appellant and charged him with violation of Section 4-493(1) of the Crimes Code. On September 26, 2000, Appellant waived his right to a jury trial and the case proceeded before Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, Senior Judge Raymond A. Novak. The first witness to testify at trial was Joshua Fosnight (hereinafter, Josh), who, at all times relevant to the charges against Appellant, was sixteen years of age. Josh explained that he first met Appellant in late September to early November 1999, at the Econo Lodge Bar at the Gaslight Steak House located in Hampton Township (hereinafter, the Bar). Josh stated that a friend from work introduced him to Appellant and told Appellant to take care of him. Josh testified that at no time, including during the initial meeting, did Appellant ask him for identification and Josh denied ever showing him any. Nevertheless, Josh said that from time to time Appellant sold him alcohol, which Josh claimed he always took out of the Bar.

Josh testified that on February 18, 2000, at approximately 7:30 P.M., he went to the Bar, paid Appellant $30.00, and Appellant provided him with a bottle of Absolut Vodka. Josh further testified that he then got into his girlfriend's truck (she had been waiting for him), drove to a gas station to purchase cups and orange juice and, together, they proceeded to finish the entire bottle of vodka. The two then went to dinner and on the way home they stopped back at the Bar where Josh purchased another bottle of vodka, which he said his girlfriend wanted for the weekend. Josh went home at approximately 11:00 P.M.

Josh's father Timothy Fosnight (hereinafter, Mr. Fosnight), and the arresting officer were the next witnesses to testify. Mr. Fosnight told the court that he noticed an obvious smell of alcohol on his son's breath when Josh entered his bedroom and leaned over him to give him a kiss goodnight. Josh admitted to his father that he purchased alcohol from Appellant. Mr. Fosnight called police and arranged for Josh to return to the bar the very same night to purchase a case of beer from Appellant. Close to the Bar, police made sure that Josh had no identification and Mr. Fosnight provided him with $50.00 to purchase alcohol from Appellant. Police allowed Josh to drive his car to the Bar. Josh entered the Bar and Mr. Fosnight and his wife watched in close proximity where they soon witnessed Appellant placing a case of beer into the car that his son had been driving. Police then arrested Appellant.⁴

At the conclusion of the testimony of the arresting officer, the Commonwealth rested its case and Appellant moved for a judgment of acquittal. Counsel argued that the charges against Appellant should be dismissed because the statute the Commonwealth chose to prosecute him under, Section 6310.1(a) of the Crimes Code, required that the Commonwealth prove that Appellant knowingly provided the beverage to a minor and that the Commonwealth had failed to prove such knowledge. The trial court denied the motion for acquittal and Appellant was forced to present his case.

Appellant then testified on his own behalf. He claimed that on February 18, 2000, he was a bartender at the Bar. Also, Appellant explained that he met Josh at the Bar several months earlier at which time Appellant requested, and Josh provided him, with proof of age. According to Appellant, the identification indicated that Josh was twenty-two years old. Appellant admitted that at approximately midnight on February 18, 2000, Josh had come into the bar and asked to purchase a case of beer.⁵ Appellant explained that when Josh gave him money, he sold Josh a case of beer and placed it into the trunk of Josh's car. Appellant went on to testify that he "cards everybody," and he denied knowing that Josh was underage, and stated that he did not intend to serve someone who was underage.

Upon resting his case, counsel for Appellant requested that the charges be dismissed because the Commonwealth had failed to prove the mens rea requirement of the statute, which he contended required the Commonwealth to prove that Appellant knowingly sold alcohol to a minor. In response, the court observed that Josh looked older than his age. Specifically, the court found that:

[B]ased upon my view of this young man who is a very big young man, and although it was my opinion that any bartender that would serve him would be well advised to card him he is a very, very big teenager and does appear older than his stated, than his actual age.

(Notes of Testimony September 26, 2000 at 62.) The court then found as a matter of fact that the "Commonwealth has failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant knew that the person served was less than 21 years of age." Id. Nevertheless, it interpreted the statute⁶ in such a way so as to convict Appellant. The trial court explained:

My finding is that the statute requires that the Commonwealth prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intentionally and knowingly furnished liquor or malt beverage to a person, and that the words "intentionally" and "knowingly" modify the word "furnished."

I find that the plain reading of the statute does not require that the Commonwealth prove that the defendant knew that the person was 21 years of age.

Trial Court Opinion dated April 17, 2001 at 8.

The Superior Court affirmed, but on somewhat different grounds. Commonwealth v. Scolieri, No. 45 WDA 2001, slip op. at 1 (Pa.Super. filed December 23, 2001). The Superior Court interpreted the words "a person commits a misdemeanor of the third degree if he intentionally and knowingly sells ... any liquor or malt or brewed beverages to a person who is less than 21 years of age," 18 Pa.C.S. § 6310.1(a), (emphasis added) to mean that "the Commonwealth must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person sold ... alcoholic beverages when he or she knew or should have known that the person to whom [he or she] sold ... the beverage was a minor." Scolieri, No. 45 WDA 2001 at 5 (emphasis in original). Although the Superior Court recognized that the trial court had determined that the Commonwealth had failed to prove that Appellant knew that Josh was a minor, the Superior Court opined that Appellant should have known that Josh was a minor and, therefore, upheld the conviction.

We granted allocatur to consider whether the Superior Court erred in interpreting Section 6310.1(a) of the Crimes Code, to require that the Commonwealth prove only that Appellant knew or should have known that the person to whom alcohol was furnished was a minor.

DISCUSSION

In this case, the General Assembly used the words "intentionally and knowingly" to describe behavior that would warrant the imposition of a criminal penalty. Appellant is charged with a violation of Section 6310.1(a) of the Crimes Code, selling or furnishing liquor or malt or brewed beverages to minors. The statute provides:

[A] person commits a misdemeanor of the third degree if he intentionally and knowingly sells or intentionally and knowingly furnishes, or purchases with intent to sell or furnish, any liquor or malt or brewed beverages to a person who is less than 21 years of age.

Id. (emphasis added). As we have often observed, when a statute has a bearing on the outcome of a case, we begin by analyzing the express words of the statute.

Kmonk Sullivan v. State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co., 567 Pa. 514, 788 A.2d 955, 959 (2001). Absent constitutional concerns, we are constrained from altering those words unless a plain reading of them would yield an absurd result. 1 Pa.C.S. §§ 1921(b), 1922(1). In this case, we do not believe that application of the words of the General Assembly would yield an absurd result.

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