Com. v. Stouter, J., Jr.

CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedNovember 14, 2019
Docket778 MDA 2018
StatusUnpublished

This text of Com. v. Stouter, J., Jr. (Com. v. Stouter, J., Jr.) 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. Stouter, J., Jr., (Pa. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

J-S51009-19

NON-PRECEDENTIAL DECISION - SEE SUPERIOR COURT I.O.P. 65.37

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA : IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF : PENNSYLVANIA : v. : : : JEFFREY LYNN STOUTER, JR. : : Appellant : No. 778 MDA 2018

Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence December 12, 2017 In the Court of Common Pleas of York County Criminal Division at No(s): CP-67-CR-0000225-2017

BEFORE: PANELLA, P.J., GANTMAN, P.J.E., and MUSMANNO, J.

MEMORANDUM BY PANELLA, P.J.: FILED NOVEMBER 14, 2019

Jeffrey Lynn Stouter, Jr. appeals pro se from the judgment of sentence

imposed following his open guilty plea to one count of fleeing or attempting

to elude a police officer, 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3733(a.2)(2)(iii), and related

offenses.1 The charges were based primarily on an eighteen-minute car chase

that occurred after Stouter refused to pull over. Police clocked Stouter driving

at speeds substantially over a hundred miles an hour. The sentencing court

imposed an aggregate sentence of not less than three-and-a-half nor more

____________________________________________

1The trial court permitted Stouter to represent himself, as requested, after a Grazier hearing. See Trial Court Opinion, 10/05/18, at 1 n.1; see also Appellant’s Brief, at 8. J-S51009-19

than seven years of incarceration in a state correctional institution. On appeal,

Stouter chiefly challenges his sentence as excessive. We affirm.

We derive the facts and the procedural history of this appeal from the

opinions of the trial court and our independent review of the record.2

On October 30, 2017, Stouter entered an open plea of guilty to one

count of fleeing or attempting to elude police, as a felony of the third degree,

75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3733(a); one count of flight to avoid apprehension, 18

Pa.C.S.A. § 5126(a); twenty-six summary driving offenses, including driving

while operating privilege is suspended or revoked, 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 1543, and

one count of receiving stolen property, 18 Pa. C. S.A. § 3925(a). Notably,

this was Stouter’s twenty-second conviction for driving under suspension or

revocation.3 The trial court recounted the facts of the case as follows:

As described in the Affidavit of Probable Cause, [Stouter’s] charges stemmed from a two-stage police pursuit begun in York County on December 12, 2016 [at approximately 8:37 in the evening], Lieutenant [Nicole] Palmer, [Pennsylvania State Police] York Station Commander, was operating an unmarked patrol vehicle on Route 30, York County, behind a white Nissan Maxima driven [eastbound] by [Stouter], when she observed the Maxima weave twice over the left fog line. At that point, the Maxima accelerated, and Lt. Palmer clocked [Stouter’s] rate of speed at ____________________________________________

2 The trial court authored two opinions. The first opinion was dated June 22, 2018, and filed June 25, 2018. After this Court granted Stouter permission to file a supplemental statement of errors, the trial court filed a supplemental 1925(a) opinion, on October 5, 2018. The trial court incorporated its original 1925(a) opinion into its supplemental opinion. See Supplemental Opinion, 10/05/18, at 2 n.2.

3 The trial court noted that Stouter’s record of motor vehicle violations extended to thirty-six pages. See N.T. Sentence, 12/12/17, at 28.

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105 miles per hour for over three tenths of a mile. [Stouter] crossed over into Lancaster County and then exited Route 30. Lt. Palmer, still following, activated the patrol car’s emergency lights and siren to initiate a traffic stop. [Stouter] did not stop, but instead reentered Route 30 and began traveling westbound from Lancaster County towards York County, at a speed of 117 miles per hour. Continuing to pursue [Stouter], Lt. Palmer observed [Stouter’s] vehicle pass both a tractor trailer and a passenger car on the right shoulder of Route 30 and then continue on to pass multiple vehicles on the left shoulder. The Lieutenant ultimately discontinued the pursuit after approximately four minutes, because of [Stouter’s] rate of speed and the threat to safety of others.

Approximately three minutes later, Trooper Ryan Wildermuth, who had been alerted to the existence of the speeding Maxima and had set up a stationary patrol in a marked vehicle at the intersection of SR 462 and Kruetz Creek Road in York County, spotted the Maxima and immediately pulled behind it, activating the patrol car’s emergency lights and siren. [Stouter] once again failed to stop, swerved around another trooper responding to assist, and then accelerated, with Trooper Wildermuth still in pursuit.

[Stouter] drove over spike strips set up to stop him at the intersection of SR 462 and SR 24. Despite damage to the front passenger tire, [Stouter] fled north on SR 24, running through two steady red lights and passing another vehicle over the double yellow line. At the intersection of Whiteford Road and North Hills Road, [Stouter] ran a stop sign, causing a collision with the patrol car of a responding trooper. [Stouter’s] damaged front passenger tire became deflated and dislodged, yet [Stouter] continued to flee, driving on the right front tire rim, with sparks flying, against traffic down several one way streets in the city of York. At some point, [Stouter] stopped the vehicle to let out a female passenger, who unsuccessfully attempted to flee on foot, but then he drove away. The vehicular chase ended only when [Stouter], boxed in by other marked patrol cars, crashed into two parked vehicles. At that point, [Stouter] abandoned the car, which remained in drive, and fled on foot, followed by four troopers. The troopers ultimately located and apprehended [Stouter], who was hiding behind a car. Troopers later discovered a factory-packaged Xbox and Beats headphones in the backseat of the Maxima, which [Stouter], once

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Mirandized, admitted he had bought from an unlicensed street dealer in the city of York for a discounted price.

Trial Court Opinion, 6/22/18, at 2-3.

The trial court sentenced Stouter on the charge of fleeing and eluding

to a term of incarceration of not less than three-and-a-half nor more than

seven years in a state correctional institution. In imposing sentence, the court

confirmed on the record that it had the benefit of a pre-sentence investigation

report. After a hearing, the court denied Stouter’s amended motion for

reconsideration of sentence. This timely appeal followed.4

On appeal, Appellant presents five overlapping compound questions,

framed as two major questions and four subordinate questions, for our review:

(1) Whether the sentencing court erred as a matter of law and/or abused its discretion in imposing the statutory maximum term of 3½ to 7 years imprisonment on the charge of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, 75 Pa.C.S. §3733(a), graded as a felony of the third degree pursuant to 75 Pa.C.S. §3733(a.2)(2)(iii), where:

(A) As its justification for such a sentence, the sentencing court relied on Appellant’s 21 prior offenses of driving while operating privilege suspended or revoked, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1543(e), thereby improperly enhancing Appellant’s sentence the basis of prior convictions for which appellant did not have counsel;

(B) as further justification for such a sentence, the sentencing court relied on Appellant’s prior conviction of an unrelated criminal offense in an unrelated case which led to Appellant’s service of a “sentence in a state correctional institution,” thereby improperly enhancing Appellant’s ____________________________________________

4As already noted, both Stouter and the trial court complied with Pa.R.A.P. 1925.

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Bluebook (online)
Com. v. Stouter, J., Jr., Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/com-v-stouter-j-jr-pasuperct-2019.