Com. v. Felder, D.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania·Decided April 2, 2018·No. 2384 EDA 2017·Unpublished

Opinion

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA : PENNSYLVANIA :

Appellant :

:

:

v. :

:

: No. 2384 EDA 2017

DOMINICK FELDER :

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence June 27, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-51-CR-0011035-2015, CP-51-CR-0011036-2015, CP-51-CR-0011037-2015, CP-51-CR-0011038-2015, CP-51-CR-0011039-2015, CP-51-CR-0011040-2015, CP-51-CR-0011041-2015, CP-51-CR-0011042-2015, CP-51-CR-0011116-2015

BEFORE: BENDER, P.J.E., LAZARUS, J., and KUNSELMAN, J. MEMORANDUM BY LAZARUS, J.: FILED APRIL 02, 2018 The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania appeals from nine separate judgments of sentence,1 entered in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County, imposing an aggregate sentence of 11½-23 months of imprisonment, followed by 10 years of probation, upon Appellee, Dominick Felder. After careful review, we vacate and remand for resentencing.

1 See Pa.R.Crim.P. 721 (Procedures for Commonwealth Challenges to Sentence; Sentencing Appeals).

Felder committed nine gunpoint robberies of West Philadelphia pizzerias from February 2014 through March 2015. The trial court set forth the factual history of the case as follows:

On March 31, 2015, Officers Michael Matos and Sean Devlin drove by Lebel’s Pizza at 5601 W. Girard Avenue, while on patrol. When Officer Matos looked inside he saw employees standing with their hands in the air. Both officers approached the restaurant on foot and saw Defendant, Dominick Felder, receiving money from a female employee while the other employees stood with their hands up. When [Felder] left the store, he ignored the officers’

commands to stop and had to be detained using control holds.

[Felder] possessed a BB gun and $549[.00], and initially gave the police a false name, Jamaal Mickens.

Approximately two hours after being arrested, [Felder] gave a written confession regarding this gunpoint robbery and four previous robberies. He denied committing any other robberies.

About sixteen hours later, [Felder] gave another written confession in which he confessed to committing nine gunpoint robberies in total.

[Felder] confessed to the following robberies, in addition to the March 13, 2015 robbery:

1. February 18, 2014: Pete’s Pizza, 1913 N. 54th St.; $600-

$700 taken from register and manager’s pocket[;]

2. June 7, 2014: Pete’s Pizza, 1913 N. 54th St.; cell phones and unknown amount of cash taken[;]

3. June 19, 2014: Lebel’s Pizza, 5601 W. Girard Ave.; $500 taken[;]

4. November 8, 2014: Robola Pizza, 1999 N. 52nd St.; $500 taken from register and delivery person[;]

5. November 8, 2014: Staci’s Pizza, 7404 Drexel Rd.; $150 taken from register[;]

6. November 19, 2014: Lebel’s Pizza, 5601 W. Girard Ave.;

$800 taken from register[;]

7. November 21, 2014: Yi’s Market, 5941 Haverford Ave.;

$100 and four cartons of cigarettes taken[; and]

8. December 1, 2014: Lebel’s Pizza, 5601 W. Girard Ave.;

$600 taken from register[.]

Trial Court Opinion, 9/25/17, at 2 (citations omitted).

On June 2, 2016, Felder entered open guilty pleas 2 to nine counts of robbery (F-1),3 five counts of possession of an instrument of crime (PIC)4 (M- 1), two counts of carrying a firearm without a license,5 and one count of carrying a firearm on public streets/property in Philadelphia.6 Each robbery charge carried a maximum sentence of 20 years’ incarceration, 18 Pa.C.S. § 1103(1), and each PIC charge carried a statutory maximum of 5 years’ incarceration, 18 Pa.C.S. § 1104(1).

The court ordered a presentence investigation report (PSI) prior to sentencing Felder. The PSI indicated that Felder was arrested eleven times as a juvenile (the first time at age 14) and adjudicated delinquent nine times for conspiracy to commit robbery. PSI, 9/2/16. As a result of his juvenile offenses, Felder was committed to a youth detention center for four years; he

2 In the instant case, Felder was also initially charged with multiple counts of theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property. However, those charges were ultimately nolle prossed.

3 18 Pa.C.S. § 3701. 4 18 Pa.C.S. § 907. 5 18 Pa.C.S. § 6106. 6 18 Pa.C.S. § 6108.

was discharged from placement in December 2007 and placed on probation until May 2012. As to the current case, Adam Taylor, the investigator who prepared the PSI, made the following recommendation: “Based on [Felder’s] juvenile and adult history of committing numerous robberies throughout the jurisdiction, it appears that he is not amenable to County or community supervision. He should make himself available to all programs within the state correctional institutional system.” Id. at 3.

The court sentenced Felder to nine concurrent terms of 11½ to 23 months’ incarceration for each robbery count, with immediate parole, and a 10-year probationary term for each robbery count, to run concurrently to each other and consecutive to confinement.7 No further penalties were imposed for the remaining charges. At sentencing, the prosecutor objected to the court’s sentence, asking for reconsideration and claiming that it was too lenient. See N.T. Sentencing, 6/27/17, at 25 (“Your Honor, I have to respectfully ask Your Honor to reconsider. These are nine gunpoint robberies. A county sentence is wholly inappropriate in this case.”).

In rendering his sentence and denying the Commonwealth’s request to reconsider the sentence, the trial judge stated:

All right. Well, I’ve taken everything into consideration. I think that the alcohol led you to the abuse; the things you did. I take into consideration strong family ties. I think you can be rehabilitated. You’re only 24 years old. Some options are here to

7 Felder was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $1,644.94.

make you a career criminal, and I can send you away for 20 to 40 years. You’ll come back, and you'll be a career criminal.

Or I can take a chance at trying to rehabilitate you. I notice that you never hurt anybody. A true criminal robs, rapes, shoots, pistol whips people, duct tape them. They do all that kind of stuff.

You've been in jail three years. Two years -- two years and seven months -- 27 months.

I'm going to take a chance on you. I see some good in you. I think you can be a good person. And that brother-in-law and that sister, I think they're going to keep you straight. I'm going to take a chance on you.

N.T. Sentencing, 6/27/17, at 21-22. The court further explained its reasons for deviating from the guidelines at Felder’s sentencing hearing:

I -- I deviated from the guidelines because of strong family background; the fact that nobody was injured. I’ll say he had a gun. And I took into consideration the sentencing memorandum I got from the defense. I took into consideration that he didn't hurt anybody; didn't duct tape people. He didn’t threaten people.

He didn’t rape people. He didn’t -- and I think the guy has more of a drug issue than anything else. And I took that in – he’s not a hardened criminal[.] He’s 24 years[-]old. I think this guy can be rehabilitated. I think if we give him the opportunity, I think this guy -- with that strong a family background, I think this guy can be rehabilitated. I could have put him in jail for 20 years.

He’d have come out at 44, 50 a hardened criminal[.] Stone cold killer, gunpoint robber. So, I’m taking this opportunity to rehabilitate him[.] And that’s why [I] made – that’s why I deviated from the guidelines. Ten days to ask me to modify; 30 days to take an appeal. Now, you come back you get a state hit.

Id. at 26-27. Later, in its Pa.R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion, the trial court further justified its sentence:

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Com. v. Felder, D., (Pa. Ct. App. 2018).

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