Com. v. Cherry, A.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 29, 2018
Docket1293 MDA 2017
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Cherry, A. (Com. v. Cherry, A.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Com. v. Cherry, A., (Pa. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

J-S20029-18

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : ALLISON RENEE CHERRY : : Appellant : No. 1293 MDA 2017

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence August 10, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Centre County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-14-CR-0001775-2013

BEFORE: GANTMAN, P.J., OTT, J., and KUNSELMAN, J.

MEMORANDUM BY OTT, J.: FILED AUGUST 29, 2018

Allison Renee Cherry appeals from the judgment of sentence imposed

on August 10, 2017 in the Centre County Court of Common Pleas, following

her revocation from a county intermediate punishment (“IP”) program. The

court sentenced Cherry to a term of 12 months to five years’ incarceration.

Cherry raises claims regarding the sufficiency of the evidence in sustaining

her IP violations and the discretionary aspects of her sentencing. Based on

the following, we affirm.

On July 4, 2013, a State College police officer found Cherry passed out

in a gas station parking lot. The officer detected a strong odor of alcohol and

observed Cherry to have bloodshot eyes and slurred speech. She admitted

she had been drinking and she performed unsatisfactorily on the field sobriety J-S20029-18

tests. Video surveillance from the gas station confirmed that Cherry was

driving. Cherry was taken to the hospital and after agreeing to a blood draw,

the results revealed her blood alcohol content was 0.226%. See generally,

Affidavit of Probable Cause, 8/12/2013. She was charged with various crimes

related to the incident and on January 23, 2014, she pled guilty to driving

under the influence of alcohol (“DUI”).1 On March 27, 2014, the court

sentenced Cherry to a term of five years’ IP in the Centre County DUI Court

program.

Since that time, Cherry committed numerous violations of her IP

sentence and received five notices of those violations in the form of written

warnings on April 8, 2015, August 25, 2015, September 21, 2015, October

13, 2015, and June 28, 2017.2 Subsequently, on July 31, 2017, Cherry

____________________________________________

1 See 75 Pa.C.S. § 3802(c).

2 With respect to each violation notification, the court did not revoke Cherry’s IP but did warn of potential ramifications for misconduct. As to her first violation, the court imposed a sanction of one month of enhanced curfew compliance/electronic monitoring. As to her second violation, the court instructed Cherry to follow her plan of action until she could be placed in a rehabilitation facility. Subsequently, on August 27, 2015, the court issued an order, requiring that Cherry attend and successfully complete an inpatient treatment program at Pyramid Healthcare. With respect to her third violation, Cherry received a sanction of one month of enhanced curfew compliance/electronic monitoring, followed by 60 days of Transdermal Alcohol Detection. Cherry did not receive any new sanctions with regard to her remaining violations.

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received her sixth notice of violations. No sanctions were imposed at the time,

but she was notified of a revocation hearing.

At the conclusion of the revocation hearing3 on August 10, 2017, the

court found Cherry violated conditions #1, #2, #4, #10, and #11 of her IP

sentence. The court explained its determination as follows:

[T]his Court revoked [Cherry]’s Intermediate Punishment because it found that [she] had violated Conditions 1, 2, 4, 10, and 11 of the Intermediate Punishment. DUI Condition 1 states that [Cherry] had to comply with all municipal, county, state, and federal criminal laws, as well as provisions of the Vehicle Code, Controlled Substance, Drug, Device, and Cosmetic Act, and the Liquor Code. It was alleged that [Cherry] violated DUI Condition 1 when she pled guilty to a Public Drunkenness and Similar Misconduct charge for incidents occurring on August 23, 2015. [Cherry] also allegedly violated Condition 2, In-Home Detention/Electronic Monitoring, by leaving her residence on February 22, 2015 without authorization. [Cherry] allegedly violated Condition 4, Leaving the Commonwealth Without Permission, when she travelled to the Carolinas from July 25-29, 2017 without permission.

[Cherry] allegedly violated condition 10, Abstention from Alcohol/Non-Prescribed Drugs on several occasions. First[,] she admitted to having alcoholic beverages on August 15, 21, and 22, of 2015. Several alcoholic beverages/empty alcoholic beverage containers were found at her approved residence on June 27, 2017 allegedly violating Condition 10. [Cherry] allegedly violated condition 10 when she tested positive for EtG (alcohol). She admitted that she had consumed alcoholic beverages at an establishment selling alcohol on April 30, 2017 and June 26, 2017.

[Cherry] allegedly violated Condition 11, Entering an Establishment that Sells Alcohol. [Cherry] allegedly violated condition 11 after she admitted that she was at Indigo Night Club/Bar drinking alcohol on August 21 and 22 of 2015. [Cherry] also admitted to violating condition 11 on April 30, 2017 and June ____________________________________________

3 Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778 (1973).

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26, 2017 by drinking alcohol at Pickles Bar. In total [Cherry] received six notifications of violations for the incidents listed above since entering the DUI Court Program by Court Order of March 27, 2014.

Trial Court Opinion, 10/6/2017, at 1-2. The court then revoked Cherry’s IP

sentence and imposed a term of 12 months to 5 years in state correctional

institution. This timely appeal follows.4

In her first argument, Cherry challenges the sufficiency of the evidence

regarding her revocation, complaining the court should not have revoked her

IP sentence based on her prior conduct in 2015 because those violations had

been previously subject to court sanctions, and therefore, the double jeopardy

clause5 applies. See Cherry’s Brief 15. Specifically, she states:

The double jeopardy clause of the constitution does not preclude, as double punishment, a second sentencing where there have been violations of a conditional sentence like probation or intermediate punishment. Double jeopardy does not preclude the remand for a new revocation hearing where a reviewing court has determined that the evidence presented at the first revocation hearing was insufficient to sustain the violation.

It does not follow, as the Commonwealth suggests, that principles grounded in double jeopardy do not apply to the revocation process. Collateral estoppel bars the Commonwealth ____________________________________________

4 On August 17, 2017, the trial court ordered Cherry to file a concise statement of errors complained of on appeal pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(b). Cherry filed a concise statement on September 1, 2017. The trial court issued an opinion pursuant to Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) on October 6, 2017.

5 See Commonwealth v. Wilson, 147 A.3d 7, 13 (Pa. Super. 2016) (“The double jeopardy clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution prohibits retrial of a defendant when the conduct of the prosecutor is intentionally undertaken to prejudice the defendant to the point of denying him a fair trial.”) (citation omitted).

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from revoking parole based on conduct for which the probationer was tried and acquitted prior to the violation hearing. It also invalidates a probation violation based solely on a new conviction that is subsequently vacated on appeal.

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