Com. v. Shiffler

• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: CAPPY, C.J., and CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR and BAER, JJ.
• Citation: Com. v. Shiffler, 879 A.2d 185, 583 Pa. 478 (Pa. 2005)
• Decision Date: 22 July 2005
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Albert S. SHIFFLER, Appellant.

879 A.2d 185

583 Pa. 478

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee, v. Albert S. SHIFFLER, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued November 30, 2004.

Decided July 22, 2005.

Mary Jean Glick, Esq., James Judge Karl, Esq., for Albert S. Shiffler.

Peter Rosalsky, Esq., Philadelphia, for Defender Association of Philadelphia.

Donald R. Totaro, Esq., Kelly M. Sekula, Esq., for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

BEFORE: CAPPY, C.J., and CASTILLE, NIGRO, NEWMAN, SAYLOR and BAER, JJ.

OPINION

Justice CASTILLE.

This Court granted review of the order of the Superior Court vacating appellant's judgment of sentence and remanding the case for resentencing, to consider whether, under the Sentencing Code's "three strikes law," appellant should have been considered a second-time violent crime offender and sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of ten years of imprisonment; or considered a third-time violent crime offender and sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of twenty-five years of imprisonment. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9714. The more narrow question upon which we granted review here was one left unanswered by our decision in Commonwealth v. Bradley, 575 Pa. 141, 834 A.2d 1127 (2003): whether the statute reflects a "recidivist philosophy" and should be construed to allow for heightened punishment for repeat offenders only where their convictions for crimes of violence, and corresponding terms of incarceration, are sequential and each is separated by an intervening opportunity to reform. For the following reasons, we answer that question in the affirmative, and thus, we vacate the order of the Superior Court and remand this matter to the trial court for re-sentencing consistent with this opinion.

On December 26, 2001, at approximately 1:45 a.m., appellant unlawfully entered the home of Robert and Carolyn Wegner in Ephrata Borough, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, while the couple was asleep. The Wegners were awakened to find appellant in their bedroom, walking around their bed. When appellant exited the house, the Wegners called emergency services, and Officer Christopher McKim of the Ephrata Borough Police Department was dispatched to the scene of the crime. After arriving at the Wegners' residence, Officer McKim found appellant hiding on the Wegners' porch and ordered him to put his hands up, at which point appellant fled. Officer McKim gave chase and eventually subdued and arrested appellant. During the arrest, appellant caused abrasions to Officer McKim's right eye and left calf and bit the officer's finger, resulting in a puncture wound. While in the Wegners' home, appellant stole approximately $76.00 in cash and a woman's brassiere.

Appellant was charged with burglary,¹ aggravated assault,² theft,³ and resisting arrest,⁴ and on June 25, 2002, entered an open guilty plea to all of the charges. The trial court accepted appellant's plea, and on that same date, the Commonwealth filed its Notice of Intent to Seek Mandatory Sentencing. On September 9, appellant filed a "Motion for the Appropriate Determination of Applicable Prior Offenses."

On October 1, 2002, the trial court held a sentencing hearing, where the Commonwealth introduced evidence that on May 12, 1997, appellant pled guilty in a separate criminal case to three separate charges of burglary.⁵ The Commonwealth argued that appellant should be sentenced as a third-time offender under Section 9714(a)(2). Appellant urged that his sentences for those prior convictions were "totally concurrent" and that, therefore, the offenses "should be considered as one conviction" for purposes of Section 9714 and that he was only a second-time offender, pursuant to subsection (a)(1) of the statute. The trial court agreed with appellant and, in addition, further reduced appellant's sentence because it found that he had rebutted the presumption of "high risk dangerousness." Accordingly, the court imposed a sentence of five to ten years imprisonment for the burglary charge; a concurrent sentence of two to four years imprisonment for the aggravated assault charge; a consecutive sentence of two years probation for the resisting arrest charge; and restitution in the amount of $12.00.⁶⁷ The Commonwealth filed a timely notice of appeal to the Superior Court.

In a published opinion, a panel majority of the Superior Court vacated appellant's sentence and remanded, holding that the trial court should have treated appellant as a third-time offender and should have sentenced him to a twenty-five year mandatory minimum term under subsection (a)(2). The panel acknowledged that although appellant had pleaded guilty to the three prior burglaries on the same day and received concurrent sentences for those offenses, the offenses constituted separate "strikes" for purposes of Section 9714. Commonwealth v. Shiffler, 833 A.2d 1128, 1129 (Pa.Super.2003) ("[T]he statutory language treats each prior conviction as a separate offense, even though the plea was consolidated."). The panel accepted the Commonwealth's argument that the statute is free from ambiguity, rejected appellant's recidivist philosophy argument and held that, "[b]ecause [appellant] was guilty of at least two prior enumerated violent crimes — namely, burglaries of occupied residences on two separate days — he has at least two prior convictions for purposes of the `three strikes' law." Id. at 1131.

In his concurring and dissenting opinion, President Judge Emeritus McEwen agreed with the trial court that appellant should be sentenced as a second-time offender under Section 9714(a)(1). P.J.E. McEwen stated that, "[t]he purpose of habitual criminal legislation ... is to impose a further penalty upon those hardened and incorrigible criminals who have been unaffected by prior punishment." Shiffler, 833 A.2d at 1132 (McEwen, P.J.E., concurring and dissenting) (citing Commonwealth v. Dickerson, 404 Pa.Super. 249, 590 A.2d 766, 771 (1991), aff'd, 533 Pa. 294, 621 A.2d 990 (1993)). P.J.E. McEwen concluded that because appellant's prior sentence was his "first and only prior contact with the criminal justice system" he would not "so widely cast the net of incorrigibility that will pull appellant into the penitentiary for 25 years...." Shiffler, 833 A.2d at 1132.

On appeal to this Court, appellant challenges the panel majority's interpretation of Section 9714, arguing that he is but a two-strike offender. Appellant suggests that we read the statute as a whole and interpret it consistently with the recidivist philosophy of sentencing, which the General Assembly intended. He submits that such a reading reveals that, in order to be sentenced as a third-time offender under the statute, the defendant's two predicate convictions must have occurred "sequentially."⁸ Moreover, appellant argues that requiring prior convictions to be sequential "is necessary to serve the statute's aim — to impose a stiffer penalty on the incorrigible criminal who has been unaffected by prior punishments." Appellant's Brief at 13. The Commonwealth counters that the Superior Court was correct in remanding the matter for resentencing based on the plain meaning of the statutory text which dictates that appellant be sentenced as a third-time offender. We granted allocatur to consider whether the recidivist philosophy influences or controls the interpretation of the three strikes law.

As a preliminary matter, we note that this appeal does not involve a challenge to the discretionary aspects of appellant's sentence, over which this Court would lack jurisdiction. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 9781(f) ("No appeal of the discretionary aspects of the sentence shall be permitted beyond the appellate court that has initial jurisdiction for such appeals."); see also Bradley, 834 A.2d at 1131. Rather, as was the case in Bradley, appellant's present claim raises a question of statutory construction, which is a pure question of law and which, under the circumstances, implicates the legality of appellant's sentence. This is so because, in the absence of the twenty-five year mandatory minimum sentence provided for in Section 9714(a)(2), appellant would have been exposed to a maximum sentence of only twenty years of imprisonment for the burglary conviction.⁹See Bradley, 834 A.2d at 1131. If the three strikes provision were deemed inapplicable, appellant's sentence would exceed the lawful maximum, and hence, would be deemed illegal. Accordingly, appellant may raise the instant claim as a matter of right, and this Court has jurisdiction to review it. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9781(a) ("The defendant or the Commonwealth may appeal as of right the legality of the sentence."); see also Bradley, 834 A.2d at 1131.

Because the present claim raises an issue of statutory construction, this Court's standard of review is plenary. See Hazleton Area School Dist. v. Zoning Hearing Bd., 566 Pa. 180, 778 A.2d 1205, 1210 (2001). Our task is guided by the sound and settled principles set forth in the Statutory Construction Act, including the primary maxim that the object of statutory construction is to ascertain and effectuate legislative intent. 1 Pa.C.S. § 1921(a); see also Commonwealth v. MacPherson, 561 Pa. 571, 752 A.2d 384, 391 (2000). In pursuing that end, we are mindful that "[w]hen the words of a statute are clear and free from all ambiguity, the letter of it is not to be disregarded under the pretext of pursuing its spirit." 1 Pa.C.S. § 1921(b). Indeed, "[a]s a general rule, the best indication of legislative intent is the plain language of a statute." See Bradley, 834 A.2d at 1132 (citing Commonwealth v. Gilmour Mfg. Co., 573 Pa. 143, 822 A.2d 676, 679 (2003)). In reading the plain language, "[w]ords and phrases shall be construed according to rules of grammar and according to their common and approved usage," while any words or phrases that have acquired a "peculiar and appropriate meaning" must be construed according to that meaning. 1 Pa.C.S. 1903(a). However, when interpreting non-explicit statutory text, ...