Commonwealth v. Kaufman

550 A.2d 547, 379 Pa. Super. 474, 1988 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2933
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 5, 1988
DocketNo. 69
StatusPublished

This text of 550 A.2d 547 (Commonwealth v. Kaufman) 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. Kaufman, 550 A.2d 547, 379 Pa. Super. 474, 1988 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2933 (Pa. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

This is an appeal by the Commonwealth from the Order of the court below dismissing, on the grounds of double jeopardy, Information No. CC 8512795A which included [476]*476counts of obstructing administration of law or other governmental function and criminal conspiracy.

The pertinent events giving rise to this appeal are as follows. On September 5, 1984, defendant-appellee entered a plea of guilty to one count of driving under the influence of alcohol or controlled substance, 75 Pa.C.S. § 3731(a)(2). That same day, appellee was sentenced to undergo a term of imprisonment of forty-eight hours at ARC House commencing on November 2, 1984. Appellee was also sentenced to pay a fine of $300; the costs of prosecution; a one year period of probation; attend alcohol safe driving school; undergo evaluation; and pay a $250 fee. This plea was received, and the sentence imposed by the Honorable Bernard L. McGinley.

Sometime thereafter, it was learned that appellee had failed to personally appear at ARC House to serve his sentence and another person appeared in his stead. As a result, a hearing was scheduled before Judge McGinley. At that hearing, on January 18, 1985, it was revealed appellee failed to report for his sentence on November 2, 1984 and had also failed to report to serve his sentence on December 7, 1984, January 4, 1985 and January 11, 1985. To explain this failure, appellee informed the court his attorney obtained a postponement of the first date because of family illness, that he didn’t know about the date of reporting in December, that January 4th was his son’s birthday and he was given permission not to report that day; and on January 11, one Riccardo Smith took it upon himself to find someone else to serve appellee’s sentence. After hearing appellee’s explanation, Judge McGinley stated he was not going to change his position and implemented the same sentence as before with the exception that appellee was to serve his forty-eight hours in the Allegheny County Jail rather than ARC House.

On November 11, 1985, a complaint was filed against appellee charging him with obstructing administration of law or other governmental function, 18 Pa.C.S. § 5101, and criminal conspiracy, 18 Pa.C.S. § 903. The complaint al[477]*477leged appellee “did actively solicit, and pay one Riccardo Smith the sum of fifty dollars, ($50.00), for the purpose of a partial payment to one Russell Kunkle, so that Kunkle would serve the actor’s sentence at the A.R.C. House____” Named as co-conspirators were Anthony Lagattuta and Riccardo Smith. Both charges were held for court and the information charging both offenses was filed on January 7, 1986.

On May 23, 1986, appellee filed a “Motion to Dismiss and/or Quash the Criminal Information.” The motion alleged, inter alia, that the information should be dismissed “as jeopardy has attached due to the earlier sentence of the Honorable Bernard McGinley.” It was contended the actions charged in the information constituted contempt of court and had been the subject of a contempt hearing before Judge McGinley who punished appellee for his conduct at the hearing of January 18, 1985.

Following a hearing, the Honorable James R. McGregor granted the motion to dismiss on grounds of double jeopardy finding appellee had been sentenced by Judge McGinley as a “probation violation” for the same offense. This timely appeal followed.

Citing Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970), as discussed and applied in Commonwealth v. Hude, 492 Pa. 600, 425 A.2d 313 (1980), Judge McGregor concluded a prosecution for obstruction and conspiracy was barred because the facts underlying that prosecution were adjudicated at the hearing before Judge McGinley on January 18, 1985. As stated in Hude, supra at 613, 425 A.2d at 320, Ashe entails a three-step approach:

(1) An identification of the issues in the two actions for the purpose of determining whether the issues are sufficiently similar and sufficiently material in both actions to justify invoking the doctrine; (2) an examination of the record of the prior case to decide whether the issue was ‘litigated’ in the first case; and (3) an examination of the record of the prior proceeding to ascertain whether the issue was necessarily decided in the first case. United [478]*478States v. Hernandez, 572 F.2d 218, 220 (9th Cir.1978); United States v. Dipp, 581 F.2d 1323, 1325 (9th Cir.1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1071, 99 S.Ct. 841, 59 L.Ed.2d 37 (1979); United States v. Sarno, 596 F.2d 404, 408 (9th Cir.1979).

With respect to the first step in the analysis, it is readily apparent that prosecution for obstruction1 and conspiracy2 involve proof of a variety of elements which are different from and immaterial to the proceeding before Judge McGinley. The January 18, 1985 proceeding was not a probation violation hearing as characterized by Judge McGregor but, instead, was held to investigate appellee’s non-compliance with Judge McGinley’s original sentence. Pertinent to Judge McGinley’s inquiry was the fact that on four occasions appellee had failed to appear to serve his sentence. The hearing before Judge McGinley was brief and did not address whether appellee’s conduct amounted to obstruction and conspiracy. Secondly, it is evident nothing was “litigated” at that proceeding. Indeed the only testimony presented was appellee’s explanation for his failure to appear. Lastly, the obstruction and conspiracy charges were not decided at the January 18, 1985 hearing. Judge McGinley [479]*479was able to determine that appellee failed to serve his driving under the influence sentence without examining any of the issues necessary for proof of the obstruction and conspiracy charges.

In addition to relying on Ashe, supra, appellee contends the present prosecution is barred because at the proceeding before Judge McGinley “[n]o indication was made by the prosecuting attorney that the sentence should not be changed because a subsequent criminal prosecution would be brought to punish appellee for the conduct which he candidly admitted to the court. No discussion was held on possible subsequent prosecution, but the matter was treated as if it were concluded” (appellee’s brief at 4). In essence, it appears appellee argues the present or subsequent prosecution is barred under 18 Pa.C.S. § 1103 and Commonwealth v. Campana, 452 Pa. 233, 304 A.2d 432, vacated and remanded, 414 U.S. 808, 94 S.Ct. 73, 38 L.Ed.2d 44 (1973) (Campana I), and Commonwealth v. Campana, 455 Pa. 622, 314 A.2d 854, cert. denied, 417 U.S. [480]*480969, 94 S.Ct. 3172, 41 L.Ed.2d 1139 (1974) (Campana II).

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Related

Ashe v. Swenson
397 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1970)
United States v. Richard A. Hernandez
572 F.2d 218 (Ninth Circuit, 1978)
United States v. George Raymond Dipp
581 F.2d 1323 (Ninth Circuit, 1978)
United States v. Jay Sarno
596 F.2d 404 (Ninth Circuit, 1979)
Commonwealth v. Hude
425 A.2d 313 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1980)
Commonwealth v. Allen
486 A.2d 363 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1984)
Commonwealth v. Campana
304 A.2d 432 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1973)
Commonwealth v. Campana
314 A.2d 854 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1974)

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Bluebook (online)
550 A.2d 547, 379 Pa. Super. 474, 1988 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2933, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-kaufman-pasuperct-1988.