Com. v. Daniels, D.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 12, 2023
Docket1344 MDA 2022
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Daniels, D. (Com. v. Daniels, D.) 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. Daniels, D., (Pa. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

J-S08009-23

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT OP 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : DAVID GENE DANIELS : : Appellant : No. 1344 MDA 2022

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence Entered August 10, 2022 In the Court of Common Pleas of Wyoming County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-66-CR-0000135-2020

BEFORE: OLSON, J., McCAFFERY, J., and COLINS, J.*

MEMORANDUM BY OLSON, J.: FILED: JUNE 12, 2023

Appellant, David Gene Daniels, appeals from the August 10, 2022

judgment of sentence entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Wyoming

County after Appellant pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol

or controlled substance (“DUI”) – second offense.1 We affirm.

The trial court summarized the factual and procedural history as follows:

On [] January 9, 2020, [Appellant] was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol []or controlled substance, 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3802(d)(1)(ii), driving under the influence of alcohol []or controlled substance, 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3802(d)(2)[,] and endangering the welfare of children, 18 Pa.C.S.A. [§ ]4304(a)(1). The charges stem from an incident that occurred on Wednesday, August 21, 2019. According to the police criminal complaint, [Appellant] was at the courthouse for a hearing [when the magisterial district courtFN1] ordered [that Appellant undergo] a ____________________________________________

* Retired Senior Judge assigned to the Superior Court.

1 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3802(d)(2). J-S08009-23

drug test. [Appellant] was accompanied to the courthouse [by a] minor[ child. Appellant] failed a urine test[,] and it was noted he [drove] a motor vehicle with the child to the courthouse. [Appellant] was placed under arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence of a controlled substance and transported to [a] hospital for a blood [draw]. The blood tests were positive for Amphetamine, Methamphetamine, Oxycodone-Free[,] and Oxymorphone-Free at the time of [Appellant’s] arrest.

[Footnote 1 Appellant] was before [the magisterial district court] for preliminary arraignment on several charges of driving under the influence. [Appellant’s preliminary arraignment] was [originally] scheduled for August 20, 2019[,] but [Appellant] failed to appear so a bench warrant was issued. [Appellant] presented to [the magisterial district court] on August 21, 2019.

On July 7, 2020[, Appellant] appeared in magisterial district court and waived all counts to [the trial] court. A guilty plea to one [] count of driving under the influence - highest rate was entered by [Appellant] on May 7, 2021. Thereafter, on July 7, 2021, the Commonwealth filed a motion to withdraw [the] guilty plea based upon [Appellant’s] prior [conviction for] driving under the influence [] in Wyoming County[, Pennsylvania]. On July 1, 2022[, Appellant] entered a [new] guilty plea to one [] count of driving under the influence - tier III, second offense. [Appellant] was sentenced on August 10, 2022[,] to pay the cost of prosecution, to pay a fine in the amount of []$1,500.00[,] and to be committed to the Department of Corrections for confinement in a state [correctional] institution for a period of not less than [16] months nor more than [60] months. [Appellant] received credit for prior confinement in the amount of one day. It was further ordered that [Appellant] shall be eligible for [a recidivism risk reduction incentive (“RRRI”)] minimum sentence.

Following sentencing, [Appellant] filed a timely motion for reconsideration which was denied by [the trial] court on August 23, 2022. [On September 22, 2022, Appellant’s counsel] simultaneously filed a notice of appeal and a petition [to withdraw as] counsel. The petition to withdraw was granted[,] and new counsel was appointed.

-2- J-S08009-23

Trial Court Opinion, 11/17/22, at 1-2 (extraneous capitalization and record

citation omitted).

On appeal, Appellant challenges the sentence imposed by the trial court.

Specifically, Appellant raises the following issues for our review:

1 Did the [trial] court err as a matter of law by considering unproven facts which were specifically excluded by the parties from the record and which served to enhance the sentence?

2. In the alternative, did the [trial] court abuse its discretion in formulating an appropriate sentence by considering facts not of record which were specifically excluded from the record?

3. Did the [trial] court abuse its discretion in failing to adequately consider Appellant's physical health as well as his rehabilitative efforts following his arrest and conviction in the instant case?

4. Did the [trial] court abuse its discretion in barring Appellant from participating in the state intermediate punishment program?

Appellant’s Brief at 3 (extraneous capitalization omitted).

Appellant’s issues, in toto, challenge the discretionary aspects of his

sentence, arguing that the trial court abused its discretion in fashioning

Appellant’s sentence when the trial court relied on an improper fact (the

presence of a minor child in the vehicle at the time of the offense), failed to

consider Appellant’s physical health and rehabilitative needs, and determined

that Appellant was ineligible to participate in the state intermediate

punishment (“SIP”) program without stating its reasons on the record. Id. at

14-15.

-3- J-S08009-23

It is well-settled that “the right to appeal [the] discretionary aspect[s] of [a] sentence is not absolute.” Commonwealth v. Dunphy, 20 A.3d 1215, 1220 (Pa. Super. 2011). Rather, where an appellant challenges the discretionary aspects of a sentence, we should regard his[, or her,] appeal as a petition for allowance of appeal. Commonwealth v. W.H.M., 932 A.2d 155, 162 (Pa. Super. 2007). As we stated in Commonwealth v. Moury, 992 A.2d 162 (Pa. Super. 2010):

An appellant challenging the discretionary aspects of his[, or her,] sentence must invoke this Court's jurisdiction by satisfying a four-part test:

We conduct a four-part analysis to determine: (1) whether [the] appellant [] filed a timely notice of appeal, see Pa.R.A.P. 902 and 903; (2) whether the issue was properly preserved at sentencing or in a motion to reconsider and modify sentence, see Pa.R.Crim.P. 720; (3) whether [the] appellant's brief has a fatal defect, [see] Pa.R.A.P. 2119(f); and (4) whether there is a substantial question that the sentence appealed from is not appropriate under the Sentencing Code, 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9781(b).

[Moury, 992 A.2d] at 170. We evaluate on a case-by-case basis whether a particular issue constitutes a substantial question about the appropriateness of sentence. Commonwealth v. Kenner, 784 A.2d 808, 811 (Pa. Super. 2001).

Commonwealth v. Hill, 210 A.3d 1104, 1116 (Pa. Super. 2019) (original

brackets omitted). If an appellant fails to challenge the discretionary aspects

of a sentence either by presenting a claim to the trial court at the time of

sentencing or in a post-sentence motion, then the appellant’s challenge is

waived. Commonwealth v. Lamonda, 52 A.3d 365, 371 (Pa. Super. 2012)

(en banc) (citation omitted), appeal denied, 75 A.3d 1281 (Pa. 2013). A

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Related

Commonwealth v. W.H.M.
932 A.2d 155 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2007)
Commonwealth v. Downing
990 A.2d 788 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Commonwealth v. Moury
992 A.2d 162 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Commonwealth v. Bowen
975 A.2d 1120 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)
Commonwealth v. Williams
562 A.2d 1385 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1989)
Commonwealth v. Devers
546 A.2d 12 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1988)
Commonwealth v. Kenner
784 A.2d 808 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2001)
Commonwealth v. Garcia-Rivera
983 A.2d 777 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2009)
Commonwealth v. Mastromarino
2 A.3d 581 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Commonwealth v. Kuykendall
2 A.3d 559 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2010)
Commonwealth v. Dunphy
20 A.3d 1215 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2011)
Commonwealth v. Christine, J., Aplt.
125 A.3d 394 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2015)
Commonwealth v. Proctor
156 A.3d 261 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Commonwealth v. Hill
210 A.3d 1104 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019)
Commonwealth v. Lamonda
52 A.3d 365 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2012)
Commonwealth v. Christine
78 A.3d 1 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Com. v. Knox, L.
2019 Pa. Super. 278 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2019)

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Daniels, D., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-daniels-d-pasuperct-2023.