Commonwealth v. Melvin
| Decision Date | 21 August 2014 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 844 WDA 2013,s. 844 WDA 2013 |
| Court | Pennsylvania Superior Court |
| Parties | COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Joan Orie MELVIN, Appellant. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Joan Orie Melvin, Appellant. |
Patrick A. Casey, Scranton, for appellant.
Michael W. Streily, Deputy District Attorney, Pittsburgh, for Commonwealth, appellee.
BEFORE: DONOHUE, OTT and MUSMANNO, JJ.
Here we decide two appeals by Appellant, Joan Orie Melvin (“Orie Melvin”), a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. First, at docket number 844 WDA 2013, Orie Melvin appeals from the judgment of sentence following her convictions of three counts of theft of services, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3926(b), and one count each for conspiracy to commit theft of services, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 903(a), misapplication of entrusted property, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 4113(a), and conspiracy to tamper with or fabricate evidence, 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 903(a). For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of sentence except that we eliminate the condition that the letters of apology to the members of the Pennsylvania judiciary be written on a photograph of Orie Melvin in handcuffs.
Second, at docket number 1974 WDA 2013, Orie Melvin appeals the trial court's sua sponte order dated November 15, 2013 staying her criminal sentence in its entirety. On this second appeal, we reverse the trial court's order staying Orie Melvin's criminal sentence and reinstate the sentence set forth in the written sentencing order dated May 7, 2013, as modified by the written order of the trial court on May 14, 2013 with the exception that the condition that the letters of apology to the members of the Pennsylvania Judiciary be written on a photograph of Orie Melvin in handcuffs is eliminated.
In 1990, Orie Melvin was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, and in 1991 she was elected to serve a full term on that court. In 1997, she was elected as a judge on the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, and she won a retention election for her seat on this Court in 2007. In 2003, Orie Melvin ran, unsuccessfully, for a seat as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. In 2009, she ran for this position again and won a 10–year term.
On May 18, 2012, the Commonwealth filed a nine-count criminal complaint against Orie Melvin, alleging, inter alia, that she illegally used her judicial staff as well as the legislative staff of her sister, former State Senator Jane Clare Orie (“Jane Orie”), in connection with her 2003 and 2009 campaigns for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. At a preliminary hearing on July 30–31, 2012, the magisterial district judge dismissed two counts (official oppression and solicitation to tamper with evidence).1 On August 14, 2012, the Commonwealth filed a seven-count information charging Orie Melvin with three counts of theft of services (Counts 1–3), conspiracy to commit theft of services (Count 4), misapplication of entrusted property (Count 5), official oppression (Count 6), and conspiracy to tamper with or fabricate evidence (Count 7). Information, 8/14/2012, at 1–3.
A jury trial began on January 24, 2013, and on February 21, 2013, the jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts except for Count 6, on which it advised the trial court that it could not reach a unanimous verdict. On May 7, 2013, the trial court sentenced Orie Melvin on Count 1 to county intermediate punishment (house arrest) for a maximum period of three years, with the following conditions: that she be approved for release to attend church services, that she volunteer in a soup kitchen three times per week, pay a $15,000 fine, and comply with DNA registration. The trial court imposed identical sentences with respect to Counts 3 and 4, and while not expressly stating that the sentences for Counts 1, 3, and 4 were to run concurrently, so indicated by ruling that all three would commence at the same time (the date of sentencing, May 7, 2013). With respect to Counts 5 and 7, the trial court imposed terms of two years of probation and $5,000 fines. The trial court imposed no penalty on the conviction under Count 2.
The trial court incorporated all of these terms in a written sentencing order dated May 7, 2013. Order of Sentence, 5/7/2013, at 1–3. Not set forth in this written sentencing order, but as described in the transcript of the May 7, 2013 sentencing hearing, the trial court purported to impose additional conditions on Orie Melvin, including that she was removed from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and could not use the term “Justice” while on house arrest and probation. N.T., 5/7/2013, at 63–64. The trial court also instructed Orie Melvin that she would be required to write letters of apology to everyone on her judicial staff that did illegal work for her benefit at her behest. Id. at 63. Finally, the trial court directed Orie Melvin to pose in handcuffs for a photograph taken by the court photographer, on the front of which she would be compelled to write an apology, to be sent to every common pleas court and intermediate appellate court judge in Pennsylvania as well as the Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. Id. at 64–65.
At a subsequent sentencing hearing on May 14, 2013, the trial court modified certain terms of Orie Melvin's sentence. Specifically, the trial court modified the sentences for Counts 1, 3, and 4 to provide that each count would carry a one-year term of county intermediate punishment plus a $15,000 fine, and that these three sentences would run consecutively to each other. N.T., 5/14/2013, at 3. With respect to the sentences on Counts 5 and 7, the trial court clarified that the two-year terms of probation for these counts would run concurrently with each other, and consecutively to the sentences on Counts 1, 3, and 4. Id. These modifications to Orie Melvin's sentence, along with other terms of the sentence announced by the trial court on May 7, 2013 (including the writing of both types of apology letters), were subsequently set forth first in a written Amended Order of Sentence and later in a written Corrected Amended Order of Sentence.2
On May 20, 2013, Orie Melvin filed a notice of appeal from the judgment of sentence at docket number 844 WDA 2013.
Orie Melvin did not write or send letters of apology as demanded by the trial court at the sentencing hearing on May 7, 2013, and in response, the trial court scheduled a violation of probation hearing for October 15, 2013. On September 27, 2013, Orie Melvin applied to this Court for a stay of the requirement that she write apology letters because to do so would violate her constitutional rights against self-incrimination. By Opinion dated November 6, 2013, this Court granted the requested stay, indicating that it would remain in effect “until such time as her direct appeal in this Court has been decided.” Commonwealth v. Melvin, 79 A.3d 1195, 1202 (Pa.Super.2013). In its Opinion granting the stay, this Court further indicated that it took no position regarding the merits of any of the issues raised by Orie Melvin on appeal. Id. Finally, this Court rejected the Commonwealth's request to remand the case to the trial court immediately for resentencing because a stay would disrupt the trial court's sentencing scheme. Id. at 1204–05.
Despite this Court's express finding that “the grant of the Application for Stay does not disrupt the trial court's sentencing scheme,” on November 14, 2013 the trial court, on its own initiative, convened a “hearing on adjustments” to Orie Melvin's sentence, at which it concluded that this Court's stay of the apology letters did disrupt its sentencing scheme:
N.T., 11/14/2013, at 4–5. On November 15, 2013, over Orie Melvin's objection that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to do so, the trial court issued an order staying her sentence in its entirety.
On December 13, 2013, Orie Melvin filed a notice of appeal from the trial court's November 15, 2013 order at docket number 1974 WDA 2013.
In the appeal at docket number 844 WDA 2013, Orie Melvin raises fifteen issues for our consideration and determination:
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