Commonwealth v. Goetz

535 A.2d 181, 369 Pa. Super. 325, 1987 Pa. Super. LEXIS 9733
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 21, 1987
DocketNo. 0060
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 535 A.2d 181 (Commonwealth v. Goetz) 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. Goetz, 535 A.2d 181, 369 Pa. Super. 325, 1987 Pa. Super. LEXIS 9733 (Pa. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

TAMILIA, Judge:

This appeal is from judgment of sentence imposed following appellant’s conviction at a bench trial of violations of section 1301 of the Vehicle Code (75 Pa.C.S.A. § 1301, et seq.). The sentences imposed were: cost of prosecution and a fine of $75 at # 333362 and cost of prosecution and a fine of $1,770 at # 333361.

Appellant, a resident of Maryland with a valid Maryland vehicle operator license, owns and operates a business known as Goetz Demolition Company in Pennsylvania, which involves the use of tractor trucks and trailers in excavation work throughout Pennsylvania and Maryland. The operators of appellant’s excavation vehicles work on jobs in either state and store the vehicles at a garage and maintenance facility in Pennsylvania, or at various job sites in Pennsylvania or Maryland. In October of 1985, appellant was performing excavation work with his tractors and trailers on two jobs in the Harrisburg area hauling excavated materials to a location in the Hagerstown, Maryland area.

On October 22, 1986, a tractor and the trailer it pulled, owned by the defendant and driven by his employee, became disabled and the operator moved them to the side of the interstate highway and left the area. The Pennsylvania State Police tagged the vehicles as they were not completely off an exit ramp, and on October 25, 1985, after receiving complaints that they were obstructing the flow of traffic, the state police had the 18-wheel tractor trailer towed off the road to a storage facility in Cumberland County. Both [328]*328the tractor and trailer bore a current registration issued to the appellant by the state of Maryland. Neither unit was registered in Pennsylvania. For purposes of registration, the tractor and trailer are considered separate vehicles and each would be cited.

Following an investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police issued two citations against the defendant whose address, and that of the tractor trailer, was listed as Hagerstown, Maryland. The citations charged Mr. Goetz with being an owner and knowingly permitting the operation of the tractor and trailer in Pennsylvania without being properly registered in this Commonwealth in violation of the Vehicle Code at 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 1301.

Following appellant’s appeal from a conviction on both citations before a district justice, a de novo trial was held in the trial court on October 24, 1986 where appellant was again found guilty on both citations. This appeal followed.

The Vehicle Code, 75 Pa.C.S. § 1301, sets forth the registration requirements for vehicles in this Commonwealth. That section, in pertinent part, specifically provides:

Registration and certificate of title required
(a) Driving unregistered vehicle prohibited. — No person shall drive or move and no owner shall knowingly permit to be driven or moved upon any highway any vehicle which is not registered in this Commonwealth unless the vehicle is exempt from registration.
(b) Proof of residency. — A person charged under this section has the burden of proving that he is a nonresident whenever he asserts a defense based on section 1303 (relating to vehicles of nonresidents exempt from registration). If he produces at the office of the issuing authority satisfactory proof that he is a nonresident and is in compliance with section 1303 within five days after being charged with a violation of this section, the issuing authority shall dismiss the charge.

Additional requirements concerning vehicle registration are contained in 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 1303.

[329]*329Vehicles of nonresidents exempt from registration
(a) General rule. — A nonresident owner of any foreign vehicle may operate or permit the operation of the vehicle within this Commonwealth without registering the vehicle in this Commonwealth or paying any fees to the Commonwealth, provided the vehicle at all times when operated in this Commonwealth is duly registered and in full compliance with the registration requirements of the place of residence of the owner and further provided the vehicle is not:
(2) regularly operated in carrying on business within this Commonwealth;
(c) Carrying on business in this Commonwealth. —Every non-resident, including any foreign corporation, carrying on business within this Commonwealth and operating in the business any vehicle within this Commonwealth unless exempted from registration under the terms of a reciprocity agreement, shall be required to register each such vehicle according to the laws of this Commonwealth.

The trial court found that appellant was a non-resident and, therefore, resident exemptions, pursuant to section 1302(6), were not applicable to him. Further, the court held non-resident exemptions were not applicable to appellant because his business was principally operated in Pennsylvania and subject to section 1303(c). Section 1302(6) allows Pennsylvania residents to avoid multiple state registration of their vehicles when another state requires that the vehicles be registered in that state because those vehicles are based and used principally in that state. The court, therefore, found that appellant cannot avoid the registration requirements of this Commonwealth merely because he dwells in Hagerstown and the units are used to conduct his business in Maryland as well as Pennsylvania.

The court noted the use of the term “resident” in the exemption provision at section 1302(6) refers to a resident of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, not an out-of-state [330]*330resident. As referred to in section 1301, non-resident exemptions are covered under section 1303. From the standpoint of section 1302(6), the subject tractor and trailer were not required to be registered in Maryland because the equipment was based and used principally out of the facility in Orrtanna, Adams County, Pennsylvania. It was not based or used principally out of the apartment in Hagerstown, where the appellant keeps some records regarding his business operations.

Neither was there evidence of an exemption, pursuant to section 1303(c), under any reciprocity agreement presented as to the regular operation of the subject units in this Commonwealth, and the court found appellant is not exempt from the registration requirement in section 1301(a).

Appellant argues that while the evidence presented did show he was carrying on business in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania with other vehicle units, there was no evidence presented that proved the subject vehicles cited were operated in relation to his ongoing business in Pennsylvania. Rather, he maintains the majority of business for which the vehicles in question are used is performed outside of this Commonwealth and the vehicles are, therefore, registered in full compliance with the laws of Maryland.

The standard for reviewing the sufficiency of evidence has been stated as follows:

Where a defendant challenges his conviction on appeal the test of the sufficiency of the evidence is whether, viewing all the evidence admitted at trial, together with all reasonable inferences therefrom, in the light most favorable to the Commonwealth, the trier of fact could have found that each element of the offenses charged was supported by evidence and inferences sufficient in law to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

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Related

Commonwealth v. Wagner
3 Pa. D. & C.4th 274 (Chester County Court of Common Pleas, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
535 A.2d 181, 369 Pa. Super. 325, 1987 Pa. Super. LEXIS 9733, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-goetz-pasuperct-1987.