Commonwealth v. Hill

761 A.2d 1188, 2000 Pa. Super. 311, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3018, 2000 WL 1538609
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 19, 2000
DocketNo. 3248 EDA 1999
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 761 A.2d 1188 (Commonwealth v. Hill) 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. Hill, 761 A.2d 1188, 2000 Pa. Super. 311, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3018, 2000 WL 1538609 (Pa. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OLSZEWSKI, J.:

¶ 1 Bernard Hill appeals from the judgment of sentence entered on September 28, 1999, in the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. We vacate the judgment of sentence and remand for resen-tencing.

¶ 2 The trial court aptly and simply set forth a summary of the facts as follows:

On September 12, 1998, Officer Burnett Monroe, a corrections officer at the Curan-Fromholme Correctional Facility (“CFCF”), asked inmate Bernard Hill, Appellant, to leave the dining area because he had finished his breakfast and other inmates needed the space for their breakfast. After inmate Hill refused to move, Officer Monroe ordered him to return to his cell. While escorting Appellant to his cell, Appellant turned and punched Officer Monroe several times in the face. Other officers assisted in subduing Appellant and he was rearrested on assault charges. As a result of the assault, Officer Monroe injured his eye and back and missed three days of work.
Appellant was convicted by a jury of Simple Assault and Aggravated Assault. ...

Trial Court Opinion, 3/2/00, at 1-2 (citations to record omitted).

¶ 3 Appellant was sentenced to five to ten years’ incarceration. See N.T., 9/29/99, at 48-49. Under the sentencing guidelines, the standard sentence would have been 27 to 40 months plus or minus six months. See N.T., 9/29/99, at 46-47.

¶ 4 In this appeal, appellant argues that the trial court failed to obtain adequate and sufficient information from a pre-sen-tence investigation or a comparable source to make a sentence determination that deviated from the sentencing guidelines.

[1190]*1190¶ 5 Sentencing is a matter vested in the discretion of the trial court and will only be disturbed on appeal if the court manifestly abused its discretion. See Commonwealth v. Gribble, 550 Pa. 62, 703 A.2d 426, 437 (1997). A trial judge who sentences outside of the guidelines must demonstrate on the record his awareness of the sentencing guidelines. See Commonwealth v. Davis, 737 A.2d 792, 798-99 (Pa.Super.1999). When a court chooses to depart from the standard range in the sentencing guidelines, it must state on the record the reasons for its departure. See Commonwealth v. Byrd, 441 Pa.Super. 351, 657 A.2d 961, 963-64 (1995).

¶ 6 This case is similar to Commonwealth v. Goggins, 748 A.2d 721, (Pa.Super.2000) (en banc), a recent en banc panel decision of our Court. In Goggins, our Court held that the trial court below had abused its discretion by conducting an inadequate pre-sentence inquiry in lieu of a pre-sentence investigation report. See Goggins, 748 A.2d at 729. Our Court stated that a sentencing judge must either order a pre-sentence report or conduct a pre-sentence inquiry which apprises the court of the circumstances of the offense, not limited to those of record, and the defendant’s personal history and background. See id. at 728. Moreover, a more extensive and careful inquiry is required in felony convictions where long terms of imprisonment are contemplated. See id. Of particular importance to the instant case, the Goggins Court also stated that a trial court’s discretion to dispense with a pre-sentence report is limited to situations where the information contained in a pre-sentence report is available from another source. See id. at 729.

¶ 7 The essential and adequate elements of a pre-sentence report include all of the following:

(A)a complete description of the offense and the circumstances surrounding it, not limited to aspects developed for the record as part of the determination of guilt;
(B) a full description of any prior criminal record of the offender;
(C) a description of the educational background of the offender;
(D) a description of the employment background of the offender, including any military record and including his present employment status and capabilities;
(E) the social history of the offender, including family relationships, marital status, interests and activities, residence history, and religious affiliations;
(F) the offender’s medical history and, if desirable, a psychological or psychiatric report;
(G) information about environments to which the offender might return or to which he could be sent should probation be granted;
(H) supplementary reports from clinics, institutions and other social agencies with which the offender has been involved;
(I) information about special resources which might be available to assist the offender, such as treatment centers, residential facilities, vocational training services, special educational facilities, rehabilitative programs of various institutions to which the offender might be committed, spécial programs in the probation department, and other similar programs which áre particularly relevant to the offender’s situation;
(J) a summary of the most significant aspects of the report, including specific recommendations as to the sentence if the sentencing court has so requested.

Id. at 728-29.

¶ 8 During the pre-sentence inquiry in Goggins, the trial court asked the following questions:

THE COURT: It occurs to me that it is likely Mr. Goggins is going to go to state prison, and we are overcrowded here in [1191]*1191Philadelphia and there is no reason for us to be housing state prisoners here if we don’t have to.
I’ll ask some questions and if I have enough information, I may be able to dispense with psychiatric and presen-tencing report. You can always ask for reconsideration, and if necessary we can order one then. I’ll ask some questions now for the purposes of sentencing.
He is how old?
DEFENDANT: Twenty.
THE COURT: How far did you go in school?
THE DEFENDANT: Eleventh grade. THE COURT: You live with your mother?
THE DEFENDANT: Yes, I do.
THE COURT: Have any drug or alcohol use?
THE DEFENDANT: No.
THE COURT: Are you employed?
THE DEFENDANT: [No.]
THE COURT: Does Defendant have any prior convictions?
DEFENSE COUNSEL: Juvenile convictions, Your Honor.

Id. at 730.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
761 A.2d 1188, 2000 Pa. Super. 311, 2000 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3018, 2000 WL 1538609, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-hill-pasuperct-2000.