Fajohn v. Com., Dept. of Corrections
| Decision Date | 22 April 1997 |
| Citation | 547 Pa. 649,692 A.2d 1067 |
| Parties | Dominic FAJOHN, Appellant v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, Appellee. |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Before FLAHERTY, C.J., and ZAPPALA, CAPPY, CASTILLE, NIGRO and NEWMAN, JJ.
On September 30, 1994 Dominic Fajohn was sentenced by the Butler County Court of Common Pleas to fourteen and a half months to twenty-nine months for crimes committed at Nos. 192-94 and 194-94. While incarcerated on this sentence, on April 10, 1995, Fajohn was sentenced at No. 1351-94, 1262-94, 1373-94, 1379-94 and 136-95 pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement. The sentence was eighteen months to three years. Fajohn asserts that at his request, the court granted him 190 days credit for the period October 3, 1994 until April 10, 1995 on one of the three sentences, the sentence imposed at 1351-94.
The Department of Corrections declined to apply credit for the 190 days on the grounds that it was prevented from doing so by Pa.R.Crim.P. 1406(c), which provides:
When at the time sentence is imposed, the defendant is imprisoned under a sentence imposed for any other offense or offenses, the instant sentence which the judge is imposing shall be deemed to commence from the date of imposition thereof unless the judge states that it shall commence from the date of expiration of such other sentence or sentences.
Thus, the Department of Corrections took the position that it is precluded from applying credit for the period October 3, 1994 until April 10, 1995, for Fajohn was imprisoned for other offenses when the April 10 sentence was imposed.
Fajohn brought an action in the Commonwealth Court in mandamus to compel the department of corrections to apply the 190 day credit. Commonwealth Court sustained the Commonwealth's preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer, and Fajohn filed this direct appeal.
In Doxsey v. Commonwealth, 674 A.2d 1173, (Pa.Cmwlth.1996), the petitioner also brought an action in mandamus seeking to have his pre-sentence confinement credited toward his sentence. Commonwealth Court sustained the Commonwealth's demurrer, relying on Pa.R.Crim.P. 1406(c):
It is clear that under this rule a sentencing judge cannot direct that a sentence commence on a date prior to the date of sentencing when the defendant is serving time on an unrelated charge.... Respondent relies on this rule in refusing to honor the sentencing judge's order. The question we must decide is whether, when a sentencing judge issues a clearly illegal order, mandamus will lie against the Department of Corrections to compel it to honor that order. We hold that it will not.
* * *
Because rule 1406(c) makes it...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Com. v. Aponte
...restrictions, as in Bradley; as a basis for creating a form of extraordinary jurisdiction nunc pro tunc, see Fajohn v. Commonwealth, 547 Pa. 649, 692 A.2d 1067 (1997); and, I would expect, both to defeat limitations upon the retroactive application of new procedural rules and to secure bela......
-
Com. v. Brown
...for the first time in a PCRA petition; or as late as PCRA appeal; or, in light of unfortunate cases such as Fajohn v. Commonwealth, 547 Pa. 649, 692 A.2d 1067 (1997), anytime in the future when the defendant feels like filing an "illegal sentence" motion nunc pro tunc. Indeed, there is noth......
-
Com. v. Roney
...575 Pa. 141, 834 A.2d 1127 (2003)]; as a basis for creating a form of extraordinary jurisdiction nunc pro tunc, see Fajohn v. Commonwealth, 547 Pa. 649, 692 A.2d 1067 (1997); and, I would expect, both to defeat limitations upon the retroactive application of new procedural rules and to secu......
-
Com. v. Lantzy
...the Department of Corrections to honor the order had its validity been challenged. See, e.g., Fajohn v. Commonwealth, Dep't of Corrections, 547 Pa. 649, 651, 692 A.2d 1067, 1068 (1997)(holding that mandamus does not lie to compel the Department of Corrections to honor a facially invalid ord......