Com. v. Williams

• Citation: 514 Pa. 124,522 A.2d 1095
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Michael Robert WILLIAMS, Appellee.
• Decision Date: 19 March 1987
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Page 1095

522 A.2d 1095

514 Pa. 124

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellant, v. Michael Robert WILLIAMS, Appellee.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued Oct. 22, 1986.

Decided March 19, 1987.

[514 Pa. 126] Stuart Suss, Director of Appeals, West Chester, for appellant.

Albert P. Massey, Jr., Paoli, for appellee.

Before NIX, C.J., and LARSEN, FLAHERTY, McDERMOTT, HUTCHINSON, ZAPPALA and PAPADAKOS, JJ.

OPINION OF THE COURT

PAPADAKOS, Justice.

This is an appeal by allowance ¹ by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Appellant) from the May 10, 1985, Order of the Superior Court vacating Appellee's three sentences for criminal attempt (murder of the first degree), and one sentence for arson endangering persons, and remanding the case to the trial court for resentencing on the arson conviction.

Appellee, Michael Robert Williams, was convicted of arson endangering persons, ² arson endangering property, ³ burglary, ⁴ theft by unlawful taking, ⁵ theft by receiving stolen property, ⁶ criminal conspiracy, ⁷ and three counts of criminal attempt (murder of the first degree). ⁸ The convictions resulted from the April 2, 1978, burglary and subsequent burning of the residence of James Latta. On August 14, 1979, the trial court sentenced Appellee to ten (10) to twenty (20) years on the arson endangering persons count; five (5) to ten (10) years on each of the three attempt counts; and five (5) to ten (10) years on the burglary conviction. All sentences were to run consecutively for an aggregate term of thirty (30) to sixty (60) years.

The evidence at trial established that during the burglary, Appellee told one of his accomplices that he knew the residents were at home, and that if they came downstairs he would kill them. Further, after the burglary, Appellee stated that he intended to set the house on fire to make the Lattas "pay" for the misfortunes of his brother (unrelated to any conduct of the Lattas). While the evidence at trial was sufficient to support all of the convictions, the trial judge suspended sentence upon the convictions for theft by unlawful taking and criminal conspiracy, and did not impose sentence for theft by receiving stolen property on merger grounds. Commonwealth v. Williams, 30 Chester 166, 167 (see n. 3) (1981). Sentence on the arson endangering property conviction was also suspended. Id. at 167, n. 2. ⁹

On direct appeal, the Superior Court remanded the case to the trial court for appointment of new counsel and for a hearing on the issue of ineffectiveness of trial counsel. The trial court, finding that trial counsel had been ineffective for failure to present argument prior to imposition of sentence, vacated the sentences. On January 21, 1983, Judge Sugerman resentenced Appellee to sentences identical to those originally imposed. A second direct appeal was taken in which Appellee contended, inter alia, that his conviction for arson endangering persons merged for sentencing purposes with his three convictions for criminal attempt (murder of the first degree), therefore, the multiple sentences imposed were illegal.

Superior Court held that the trial court erred in imposing separate sentences for the crime of arson endangering persons and for each of the criminal attempt crimes reasoning that "[a]fter the Commonwealth had completed its proof of the crime of attempted murder, it also completed its proof for the crime of arson endangering persons." Accordingly, Superior Court vacated the three sentences for criminal attempt and arson endangering persons, and remanded for resentencing on the arson conviction. Commonwealth v. Williams, 343 Pa.Superior Ct. 280, 494 A.2d 467 (1985). We granted the Commonwealth's Petition for Allowance of Appeal, and we now reverse.

On this appeal, the Commonwealth presents the following issues for our consideration: 1) whether a defendant who sets fire to a house intending to kill each of the three occupants may lawfully be given separate sentences for each of the three attempted first degree murders; 2) whether a defendant convicted of both criminal attempt (murder of the first degree) and arson is entitled, by virtue of the merger doctrine, to vacation of the sentences imposed for the three criminal attempts; 3) whether a trial court may resentence a defendant on certain counts of an information following an appellate reversal of other counts on grounds of merger; and 4) whether the merger doctrine should be abolished in Pennsylvania since there is neither justification nor need for the doctrine's continued existence.

Appellant first argues that the Superior Court's ruling that separate sentences could not be imposed for the attempted murder of each victim is in conflict with our decision in Commonwealth v. Frisbie, 506 Pa. 461, 485 A.2d 1098 (1984). Appellee counters that the instant case is distinguishable from Frisbie because the issue here is whether a single act--regardless of whether multiple victims exist--can be the basis for multiple sentences for each of several crimes that resulted from the single act. In other words, where a defendant commits a single act of setting fire to a building known to be occupied, can that act be the basis for multiple sentences for arson endangering persons and for criminal attempt.

In Frisbie, we held that a single unlawful act which affects multiple victims may support multiple sentences without violating the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Therein, we expressly overruled our decision in Commonwealth v. Walker, 468 Pa. 323, 362 A.2d 227 (1976), and dispelled the notions that "where there is but one act of cause of injury, or death of a number of persons, there is but one injury to the Commonwealth ..." and that "it is beyond the power of a court imposing sentence to impose multiple sentences on a defendant for a single act." Frisbie, supra, 506 Pa. at 465, 485 A.2d at 1099; citing the specific language of Commonwealth v. Walker, supra. We determined that in resolving this issue "our task is to simply determine whether the Legislature intended that each injury constitute a separate offense." Frisbie at 465-66, 485 A.2d at 1100. We held that with regard to recklessly endangering another person (18 Pa.C.S. § 2705), the Legislature intended a separate offense for each person who was a victim of the criminal conduct. Id. Therefore, it was permissible to impose nine separate sentences for recklessly endangering another person as a result of the single action of propelling an automobile through a crowded intersection and injuring nine pedestrians.

The same legislative intent would apply in the case of criminal attempt (criminal homicide). "Criminal attempt" (18 Pa.C.S. § 901(a) is defined:

A person commits an attempt when with intent to commit a specific crime he does any act which constitutes a substantial step toward the commission of that crime.

"Criminal homicide" (18 Pa.C.S. § 2501(a) is defined:

A person is guilty of criminal homicide if he intentionally, knowingly, recklessly or negligently causes the death of another human being. (Emphasis added.)

The singular was used by the Legislature in defining "criminal homicide" as when it defined "recklessly endangering another person." Thus, it is clear that the legislative intent was to make the unit of prosecution the attempted death of each person, not the single act of the perpetrator. As Appellant points out, the Superior Court's holding would produce the incongruous result that one who attempts to murder three persons by driving his car at them may be given three sentences, but a defendant who attempts to murder three persons by burning them in their home while they sleep may be given only one sentence.

We also noted in Frisbie, that among the general purposes of the Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 104:

are that of insuring that punishment is proportionate with criminal liability, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 104(3), and that of differentiating among offenders based on the seriousness of their offenses, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 104(5). An offender whose unlawful act harms or is likely to harm many people is more culpable, and thus deserving of more severe punishment, than an offender whose unlawful act harms only one person. By holding that multiple sentences may be imposed for a single unlawful act, both purposes are served.

Id. at 467, 485 A.2d at 1101.

Therefore, under the authority of Frisbie, imposition of multiple sentences upon a defendant who sets fire to a house with the intent to kill each of three occupants is clearly permissible. That determination does not resolve the question of whether the imposition of a sentence for arson endangering persons precluded the imposition of sentences for any of the three attempted murders by virtue of the merger doctrine, or on double jeopardy grounds. Appellee argues that his sentences for arson endangering persons and criminal attempt--homicide not only violate the merger doctrine, but also clearly violate his double jeopardy rights since the arson was the means employed to perpetrate the crime of attempted murder. The recent decisions of this Court and of the United States Supreme Court have recognized that the sole issue presented in multiple punishment cases is one of statutory construction whereby the courts can determine whether, in absence of legislative expression to the contrary, the Legislature intended to prescribe multiple punishments under two separate statutory provisions for what might arguably be considered the "same offense." Commonwealth v. Bostic, 500 Pa. 345, 456 A.2d 1320 (1983); Missouri v. Hunter, 459 U.S. 359, 103 S.Ct. 673, 74 L.Ed.2d 535 (1983).

The double jeopardy clause serves principally as a restraint on courts and prosecutors--it does not restrain the legislature in its role in defining crimes and fixing penalties. Commonwealth v. Tarver, 493 Pa. 320, 426 A.2d 569 (1981), citing Brown v. Ohio, 432 U.S. 161, 97 S.Ct. 2221, 53 L.Ed.2d 187 (1977). The intent...