Com. v. White

• Citation: 910 A.2d 648
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant/Cross-Appellee v. Miriam T. WHITE, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.
• Decision Date: 22 November 2006
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

Page 648

910 A.2d 648

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant/Cross-Appellee v. Miriam T. WHITE, Appellee/Cross-Appellant.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued October 18, 2004.

Decided November 22, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Bradley Steven Bridge, Karl Baker, Defender Ass'n of Philadelphia, for Miriam T. White.

Hugh J. Burns, Jr., Philadelphia Dist. Attorney's Office, for the Com. of PA.

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

OPINION

Justice EAKIN.

Mr. Justice Eakin announces the Judgment of the Court. Mr. Justice Eakin delivers the Opinion of the Court with respect to parts II, III, and IV.B, in which Mr. Justice Castille, Madame Justice Newman and Mr. Justice Saylor join, and a plurality opinion with respect to parts I and IV.A, in which Mr. Justice Castille and Madame Justice Newman join.

This appeal presents two issues: (1) whether an interlocutory appeal as of right, pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 311(d), lies from a trial court's denial of a motion for recusal; and (2) whether the Commonwealth has a right under the Pennsylvania Constitution to have a jury determine the degree of guilt after a defendant pleads guilty to murder generally. The Superior Court concluded it did not have jurisdiction under Pa.R.A.P. 311(d) to review the recusal motion, and that the Commonwealth has a right to a jury at a degree of guilt hearing. Commonwealth v. White, 818 A.2d 555 (Pa.Super.2003). We reverse in part and affirm in part.

The Philadelphia police arrested 11-year-old Mariam¹ White in conjunction with the stabbing death of Rose Marie Knight. By operation of law, White was charged as an adult for the crime of murder. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 6355(e). There were several failed attempts at negotiating a plea before the Honorable Renee Cardwell Hughes of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Subsequently, White's counsel moved to decertify the case to juvenile court. The decertification proceedings occurred before the Honorable Legrome D. Davis. Before the decertification motion was decided, several more attempts at negotiating a plea were made, but no agreement was reached. Ultimately, Judge Davis denied decertification, and the case returned to Judge Hughes. See N.T. Decertification Hearing, 11/2/00, at 38.

Defense counsel told Judge Hughes that White intended to plead guilty to murder generally and requested that the court schedule a degree of guilt hearing. N.T. Status Hearing, 11/8/00, at 4. The prosecutor inquired whether the judge believed a degree of guilt hearing could result in a verdict of less than third degree murder, i.e., voluntary manslaughter. Id., at 8-9. Judge Hughes responded in the affirmative. Id. at 9. One week later, the prosecutor appeared before Judge Hughes and asked that she recuse herself. N.T. Status Hearing, 11/17/00, at 2. The prosecutor asserted that while plea negotiations were ongoing prior to the decertification proceedings, Judge Hughes made statements which showed judicial bias. Id., at 4. Judge Hughes denied the request for recusal. The prosecutor also requested that the Commonwealth be afforded its right to a jury trial. Id., at 10. Judge Hughes denied the request. Finally, the prosecutor asked that the court certify both questions for immediate appeal under 42 Pa. C.S. § 702(b).² Id., at 11-12. Again, the judge denied the request. The Commonwealth appealed the judge's rulings.

On appeal, the Superior Court quashed in part and reversed in part. White, at 563. The court first addressed the availability of an immediate appeal from an order denying a recusal motion under Pa. R.A.P. 311(d), which allows the Commonwealth to appeal, as of right, an interlocutory order that "terminates or substantially handicaps" the prosecution. White, at 558. The court reasoned it need not "accept blindly" the Commonwealth's certification of substantial handicap. Id. Rather, "when issues other than those evidentiary in nature are raised, we may pause to consider the propriety of the Commonwealth's certification." Id., at 559. The court considered the fact that the ruling did not interfere with the Commonwealth's ability to present its case, and ultimately declined to expand Rule 311(d) to include an appeal from an order denying recusal. White, at 559. The court also considered whether the jury trial issue was appealable under Rule 311(d), and concluded that precluding the Commonwealth from appellate review of this issue would allow a trial court to overrule a constitutional provision based on its own interpretation, which "no doubt" constituted a substantial handicap under Rule 311(d). White, at 560-61.

In considering whether the Commonwealth has a right to a jury at a degree of guilt hearing, the Superior Court first noted the procedural rule governing such hearings "affords a criminal defendant the option of having the trial judge, rather than a jury, determine her degree of guilt." Id., at 561. The court then noted that "implementation of the Rule is irrelevant in the event that the Commonwealth seeks to exercise its constitutional right to a jury trial." Id. The Commonwealth's right to a jury trial is "the same as" the defendant's, as provided for by Article 1, § 6 of the Pennsylvania Constitution. "Its effect, simply, is to permit the Commonwealth to insist on a jury trial despite a criminal defendant's decision to waive that same right." White, at 561. The Superior Court concluded a guilty plea to murder generally is unique, and what follows is akin to a trial, since the proceedings still involve the presentation of evidence, the arguments of counsel, and the findings of fact in support of the verdict. Id., at 562. Accordingly, the court concluded a degree of guilt hearing was "a variation of a waiver trial and as such, it cannot trump the Commonwealth's constitutional right to demand a jury trial." Id.

This Court granted allowance of appeal on the question of "whether the Commonwealth is permitted to appeal an order denying recusal of a trial judge as an interlocutory order pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 311(d), and if so, whether denial of the recusal motion was in error." Commonwealth v. White, 577 Pa. 316, 845 A.2d 199, 200 (2004). We also granted allowance of appeal to address whether the Commonwealth has a right to a jury at a degree of guilt hearing when a defendant pleads guilty to murder generally.³

I. Commonwealth's Right to Appeal Denial of Recusal Under Pa.R.A.P. 311(d)

We turn first to the question of the Commonwealth's right to appeal under Rule 311(d) when a trial court denies a recusal motion. It is well settled that, as a general rule, appellate courts have jurisdiction only over final orders. See 42 Pa. C.S. § 742 (providing appellate jurisdiction to Superior Court over "final orders"); id., § 762 (same for Commonwealth Court); Commonwealth v. Wells, 553 Pa. 424, 719 A.2d 729 (1998). That general rule, however, is subject to exceptions which give appellate courts jurisdiction to review interlocutory orders under limited circumstances. See 42 Pa.C.S. § 702 (governing appellate jurisdiction over interlocutory orders); see also Pa.R.A.P. 311 (interlocutory appeals as of right); Pa.R.A.P. 312 (interlocutory appeals by permission). Rule 311(d) provides such an exception in criminal cases when an order terminates or substantially handicaps the prosecutor's case:

In a criminal case, under the circumstances provided by law, the Commonwealth may take an appeal as of right from an order that does not end the entire case where the Commonwealth certifies in the notice of appeal that the order will terminate or substantially handicap the prosecution.

Pa.R.A.P. 311(d).

The Commonwealth asserts the text of Rule 311(d) does not bar review of recusal rulings. Further, a plain reading of the text, coupled with this Court's prior case law, leads to the conclusion that the Commonwealth must be allowed to appeal from pre-trial rulings that implicate "the particular burden which it bears to prove its case." Commonwealth's Brief, at 33 (quoting Commonwealth v. Cosnek, 575 Pa. 411, 836 A.2d 871, 877 (2003)). According to the Commonwealth, an order denying recusal implicates this precise burden, because a biased court can hamper the presentation of the prosecutor's case.

White responds that the Commonwealth's contentions are at odds with Cosnek, which she argues specifically limited the scope of Rule 311(d) to appeals from "pretrial ruling[s] result[ing] in the suppression, preclusion or exclusion of Commonwealth evidence." White's Brief, at 15 (quoting Cosnek, at 877).

As both parties argue Cosnek controls the outcome of this issue, we begin our analysis with that case. In Cosnek, we considered whether the Commonwealth had the right to appeal an order which ruled on the admissibility of defense evidence. Cosnek, at 871. We first considered the "legal underpinnings" of Rule 311(d), noting the government may bring an interlocutory appeal in criminal cases only under express statutory authority. Cosnek, at 873. We then examined the origin of Rule 311(d), explaining the language of the Rule was derived from Commonwealth v. Bosurgi, 411 Pa. 56, 190 A.2d 304 (1963), in which this Court devised a strategy for evaluating cases after Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961). Cosnek, at 874. In Mapp, the United States Supreme Court concluded that evidence seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment was inadmissible in state proceedings.⁴ Cosnek, at 874. Thus, Bosurgi held that when a pre-trial order of suppression will terminate or handicap the prosecution, the order has such an "attribute of finality" as to give the Commonwealth the right of immediate appeal. Cosnek, at 874. In Cosnek, we further explained that subsequent case law clarified Bosurgi, such that the Commonwealth merely needed to allege an order suppressing, precluding, or excluding evidence terminated or substantially handicapped its case to be entitled to a pre-trial appeal...