Commonwealth v. Clark

746 A.2d 1128, 2000 Pa. Super. 14, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 12
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 19, 2000
StatusPublished
Cited by51 cases

This text of 746 A.2d 1128 (Commonwealth v. Clark) 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
Commonwealth v. Clark, 746 A.2d 1128, 2000 Pa. Super. 14, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 12 (Pa. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

HUDOCK, J.:

¶ 1 We granted en banc review in this case, sua sponte, to address the question of the appealability of a conviction where no penalty has been imposed. Appellant was convicted of two counts each of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and criminal conspiracy. 1 The trial court sentenced him to concurrent terms of imprisonment for each count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, but found him “guilty without further imposition of sentence” on the conspiracy counts. (N.T., 10/9/97, at 75)

¶2 Before the three-judge panel assigned to hear the appeal, the Commonwealth contended that since Appellant received no sentence on the two conspiracy counts, those convictions could not be reviewed on appeal and cited several cases from this Court in support, such as, Commonwealth v. Giddings, 454 Pa.Super. 524, 538, 686 A.2d 6, 14 (1996), appeal denied, 548 Pa. 644, 695 A.2d 784 (1997) (holding that since appellant received no additional sentence on the criminal mischief conviction he is entitled to no relief); Commonwealth v. Nelson, 337 Pa.Super. 292, 305-07, 486 A.2d 1340, 1347 (1984) (holding that one can only appeal from a judgment of sentence and not a conviction; arguments concerning convictions for which no sentence was imposed are frivolous); and Commonwealth v. Smith, 322 Pa.Super. 389, 394-96, 469 A.2d 676, 679 (1983) (holding that where no sentences were imposed for certain convictions, those offenses were not properly before Superior Court). The Commonwealth also cited dicta from our Supreme Court in a footnote in Commonwealth v. Ford-Bey, 504 Pa. 284, 290, n. 5, 472 A.2d 1062, 1065, n. 5 (1984) (the argument that appellant should not have been convicted of both attempted murder and recklessly endangering another person because the latter crime merges into the former for purposes of sentencing is “... wholly frivolous in view of the fact that no sentence was ever imposed for recklessly endangering another person.”).

¶ 3 It is elemental that a criminal appeal is taken from a judgment of sentence and not from the underlying conviction. Commonwealth ex. rel. Holly v. Ashe, 368 Pa. 211, 216-18, 82 A.2d 244, 247 (1951). The question is whether the failure to assess a penalty for a conviction is a “sentence” for purpose of appeal.

¶ 4 The Commonwealth now concedes that a determination of guilt without further imposition of penalty is a valid judgment of sentence under the Sentencing Code and constitutes a final appealable order. Our Supreme Court has so held in Commonwealth v. Rubright, 489 Pa. 356, 361-63, 414 A.2d 106, 109 (1980), and this Court has followed this principle. See e.g. *1131 Commonwealth v. Smith, 451 Pa.Super. 192, 194-96, 678 A.2d 1206, 1207 (1996) (“A determination of guilt without further imposition of penalty constitutes a final, ap-pealable order.”). However, the Commonwealth now argues that for a conviction to be appealable the sentencing court must expressly state that no further penalty is being imposed; simply failing to impose a penalty, the Commonwealth contends, will not suffice. We reject such a distinction and now hold that where a sentencing court expressly or by implication indicates that no penalty is to be imposed after conviction, that action is a “sentence” which will support an appeal.

¶ 5 Our Sentencing Code provides as follows:

§ 9721. Sentencing generally.
(a) General rule. — In determining the sentence to be imposed the court shall ... consider and select one or more of the following alternatives, and may impose them consecutively or concurrently:
(1) An order of probation.
(2) A determination of guilt without further penalty.
(3) Partial confinement.
(4) Total confinement.
(5) Afine.
(6) Intermediate punishment.

42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9721(a) (emphasis added).

¶ 6 The Legislature has thus made it clear that a determination of guilt without further penalty is a “sentence” for purposes of appeal. Were it otherwise, as Appellant points out, Article 5, Section 9 of the Pennsylvania Constitution would be overridden. (“... and there shall also be a right of appeal from a court of record ... to an appellate court[.]”) A person could be convicted of a heinous crime, such as child sexual assault, after a manifestly unfair trial, and so long as no sentence was imposed on that particular count, no redress would be available. His reputation would be ruined, his conviction would be counted in any prior record score computation for any subsequent sentencing, and other collateral consequences could ensue, such as denial of financial assistance for higher education to students who are convicted of a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude or a felony (24 P.S. section 5158.2(1)), or denial of entry into a state-approved nurse’s aide training program because of certain convictions (63 P.S. section 675).

¶ 7 We expressly overrule any statements in Giddings, supra, Smith, supra, and Nelson, supra, which suggest that where a sentencing court imposes no penalty after a conviction, the conviction is not appealable.

¶ 8 We now turn to the merits of the appeal.

¶ 9 The facts and procedural history can be summarized as follows: Appellant’s convictions arose out of two separate incidents. 2 At approximately 3:15 p.m. on December 2, 1996, a Philadelphia Police Department Local Intensive Narcotics Enforcement (LINE) Unit began a surveillance operation centering on the 5100 block of Market Street in the City of Philadelphia. The LINE Unit was responding to numerous reports of drug trafficking activity in the area of 51st and Market Streets.

¶ 10 Officer Nikki Jones directed the surveillance from a confidential location. Officer Jones testified that she observed Appellant and his accomplice, Corey Days, standing on the northwest corner of the intersection between 51st and Market Streets. While she watched for fifteen to twenty minutes, three different males approached Appellant. Each of these passersby stopped and gave the accomplice of *1132 Appellant United States (US) currency. The accomplice then turned to Appellant and said something. Appellant proceeded to walk to an abandoned lot about one-half block away.

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Bluebook (online)
746 A.2d 1128, 2000 Pa. Super. 14, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-clark-pasuperct-2000.