Commonwealth v. Griffin, 130 EM 2007.

• Decision Date: 06 May 2008
• Docket Number: No. 130 EM 2007.,130 EM 2007.
• Citation: 946 A.2d 668
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, ex rel., PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL Tom CORBETT and Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham, Petitioners v. Deborah Shelton GRIFFIN, Respondent.
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

946 A.2d 668

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, ex rel., PENNSYLVANIA ATTORNEY GENERAL Tom CORBETT and Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham, Petitioners v. Deborah Shelton GRIFFIN, Respondent.

No. 130 EM 2007.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued March 5, 2008.

Decided May 6, 2008.

Barry Noah Kramer, Esq., PA Office of Attorney General, Ronald Eisenberg, Esq., Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Samuel C. Stretton, Esq., Law Office of Samuel C. Stretton, West Chester, for Deborah Shelton Griffin.

CASTILLE, C.J., and SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, TODD and McCAFFERY, JJ.

OPINION

Justice SAYLOR.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General and the Philadelphia County District Attorney have filed a petition in quo warranto directed to this Court's original jurisdiction, naming Judge Deborah S. Griffin of the Philadelphia Municipal Court as Respondent, and seeking her removal from office. The primary issue raised is whether Respondent's felony convictions for fraudulently procuring a credit card constitute "infamous crimes" for purposes of Article II, Section 7 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which prohibits anyone convicted of such an offense from holding an office of trust or profit in the Commonwealth.

In 1984, federal prosecutors obtained a criminal indictment against Respondent, charging her with various felony counts for using a false social security number on several credit card applications. Additionally, she was charged with using a false social security number on an employment application. Respondent pled guilty to two of these counts, and the remaining ones were dismissed on the consent of the Government. The federal sentencing court suspended the imposition of Respondent's prison sentence, placed her on concurrent three-year terms of probation for each count, and ordered her to pay restitution totaling approximately $1,200.00. See generally Office of Disciplinary Counsel v. Griffin, 535 Pa. 590, 591-93, 637 A.2d 266, 266-68 (1994) (per curiam) (Papadakos, J., dissenting) (discussing Respondent's federal offenses).¹

Respondent was eventually elected to serve as a judge of the Philadelphia Municipal Court, and began serving in that position in January 2002; she was retained for a second six-year term in the November 2007 municipal election. At some point during Respondent's first term in office, the Judicial Conduct Board became aware of her felony convictions, and referred the matter to Petitioners. In its referrals, the Board expressed its view that it lacked jurisdiction to pursue any charges against Respondent before the Court of Judicial Discipline because the crimes occurred prior to her taking office. Petitioners, however, declined to take action and suggested instead that the Board may have standing in its own right to seek quo warranto relief.²

The Judicial Conduct Board subsequently filed an application for leave to file original process and complaint in quo warranto with this Court. In its complaint, the Board requested that Respondent be declared unqualified for the office of Judge of the Philadelphia Municipal Court, be ousted from the office, and be permanently prohibited from occupying or holding herself out as occupying such office and from receiving any compensation, expense, reimbursement, or other emolument of office. This Court ultimately dismissed the claim, concluding that, although it had jurisdiction to address an action in quo warranto challenging a Philadelphia municipal court judge's right to hold office, the Judicial Conduct Board lacked standing to pursue the matter. See Commonwealth ex rel. Judicial Conduct Bd. v. Griffin (Griffin I), 591 Pa. 351, 918 A.2d 87 (2007); see also 42 Pa.C.S. § 721(3) (affording this Court "original but not exclusive" jurisdiction over quo warranto cases as to officers of statewide jurisdiction).

The Commonwealth, on relation of the Petitioners herein, then initiated the present action on August 15, 2007, by filing an application for leave to file original process, which was granted, and a complaint in quo warranto. In its complaint, the Commonwealth requested a declaration that, by virtue of Respondent's federal convictions for crimen falsi felony offenses, Article II, Section 7 of the Pennsylvania Constitution bars her from holding office as a judge of the Philadelphia Municipal Court.³ That section provides in full:

No person hereafter convicted of embezzlement of public moneys, bribery, perjury or other infamous crime, shall be eligible to the General Assembly, or capable of holding any office of trust or profit in this Commonwealth.

PA. CONST. art. II, § 7. Since Respondent was not convicted of embezzlement, bribery, or perjury, the central issue is whether the crimes of which she was convicted were constitutionally "infamous." Although this quo warranto litigation was initiated by Petitioners, Respondent bears the burden of proving her right to continue in office. See In re Stout, 521 Pa. 571, 576, 559 A.2d 489, 492 (1989).

Respondent asserts, as a threshold matter, that she was never convicted of any crime because her federal prison sentence was suspended and she was instead required to serve a term of probation. However, the mere suspending of a defendant's prison sentence does not nullify the underlying conviction. As Respondent acknowledges, the applicable federal statute clarifies that such a suspension may only occur upon the entry of a "judgment of conviction." Brief for Respondent at 34 (quoting 18 U.S.C. § 3651 (repealed)). Indeed, a sentence of probation is a criminal sentence in the federal system, both as a general matter, see 18 U.S.C. § 3563(b)(1) and when it is imposed in place of a suspended prison sentence. See 18 U.S.C. § 3651 (repealed); see also Berman v. United States, 302 U.S. 211, 213, 58 S.Ct. 164, 166, 82 L.Ed 204 (1937) ("Placing petitioner on probation did not affect the finality of the judgment. Probation is concerned with rehabilitation, not with the determination of guilt."). Accordingly, Respondent's argument in this regard lacks merit.

Addressing the central issue in this matter, Respondent concedes that the offenses to which she pled guilty were felonies, see Brief for Respondent at 19, but she maintains that the proscription of Article II, Section 7 does not apply to those crimes because they did not affect the public administration of justice. She acknowledges recent precedent from this Court which she interprets as holding that any felony or crimen falsi offense constitutes a constitutional basis for removal from office under Article II, Section 7, see id. at 20 (citing Commonwealth ex rel. Baldwin v. Richard, 561 Pa. 489, 751 A.2d 647 (2000)); however, she suggests that the rationale underlying that case should be reconsidered because it would mean — particularly as to felonies — that the mere grading of the offense by the legislature would be determinative. She states, in this regard, that one of the offenses of which the officeholder in Richard was convicted has since been upgraded to a felony, and suggests that the result of that case would be different if decided today. Arguing that the inclusion of all felonies and crimen falsi offenses within the constitutional classification therefore "appears to go too far," Respondent urges that such crimes should only be considered as prohibiting the holding of public office if they undermine the administration of justice. Indeed, Respondent proffers that this comports with the interpretation of "infamous crimes" as set forth by this Court in the seminal decision of Commonwealth v. Shaver, 3 Watts & Serg. 338, 1842 WL 4918 (Pa.1842), in which the Court, according to Respondent, clarified that, unless the administration of justice was undermined, a felony or crimen falsi offense would not qualify as "infamous." Finally, Respondent argues that there is nothing about the felonies to which she pled guilty that affects the administration of justice or undermines the public trust because her use of a false social security number to obtain credit cards occurred within the framework of a private commercial transaction. See id. at 23.

In Shaver, after a thorough historical review, this Court ultimately described the category of infamous offenses as follows:

The offenses which disqualify a person to give evidence, when convicted of the same, are treason, felony, and every species of the crimen falsi — such as forgery, subornation of perjury, attaint of false verdict, and other offenses of the like description, which involve the charge of falsehood and affect the public administration of justice.

Id., 1842 WL 4918 at *4.⁴ As noted, based upon this passage, Respondent contends that any felony which forms the basis of a valid quo warranto action must be one that undermines the public administration of justice.

Contrary to Respondent's argument, in the years since Shaver was decided this Court has consistently adhered to an interpretation in which felonies and crimen falsi offenses are distinct (albeit overlapping) categories, both of which contribute to the definition of infamous crimes. This understanding is exemplified by cases as old as Schuylkill County v. Copley, 67 Pa. 386, 390 (1871) ("Infamous crimes are treason, felony, ... and offenses affecting the public administration of justice, such as bribing a witness to absent himself, and not to give evidence ...."), and as recent as Richard, 561 Pa. at 497-98, 751 A.2d at 652 ("[W]e find that it is the Shaver classification referring to infamous crimes as felonies and crimen falsi offenses, and not the juror disqualification language, which has been followed for over one hundred fifty years in this Commonwealth."), and Respondent does not provide any compelling basis to depart from the general requirements of stare decisis on this principle.

This also comports with the understanding of the term "infamous" at common law. As one commentator has observed:

[U]nder the early...