Commonwealth v. Kerry

906 A.2d 1237, 2006 Pa. Super. 233, 2006 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2215, 2006 WL 2423434
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 23, 2006
Docket2141 WDA 2005
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 906 A.2d 1237 (Commonwealth v. Kerry) 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. Kerry, 906 A.2d 1237, 2006 Pa. Super. 233, 2006 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2215, 2006 WL 2423434 (Pa. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

*1238 OPINION BY

ORIE MELVIN, J:

¶ 1 Appellant, Timothy Craig Kerry, appeals from the judgment of sentence imposed following a non-jury trial wherein Appellant was found guilty of driving under the influence (DUI) and related summary offenses. 1 On appeal, he challenges the trial court’s denial of his claimed right to a jury trial and the sufficiency of the evidence. After review, we affirm.

¶ 2 The trial court summarized the facts as follows:

Patrolman Alan Mores, of the Butler Township Police, testified that on March 1, 2005, shortly after midnight, he was in his patrol vehicle traveling westbound on U.S. Route 422 in Butler Township approaching the intersection with Greenwood Drive. [Patrolman] Mores observed two ATV quad vehicles traveling eastbound on Rte. 422, and subsequently make a right turn onto Greenwood Drive. [Patrolman] Mores followed the ATV tracks down Greenwood Drive, across Benbrook Road, and into the parking lot of the Rock Ann Haven, a local bar and grille. [Patrolman] Mores, testified that he observed two men in heavy clothing and helmets walking away from the ATVs headed toward the bar. [Patrolman] Mores identified the [Appellant], and testified that upon asking him for identification, he could detect the odor of an alcoholic beverage on [Appellant’s] breath, and that his eyes were glassy and bloodshot. [Patrolman] Mores testified that the [Appellant’s] companion became belligerent towards him, and thus [he] decided to conduct a pat-down search for his safety [and that] of both gentlemen. During the frisk of [Appellant], [Patrolman] Mores discovered four cans of Michelob beer. Subsequently, [Patrolman] Mores arrested [Appellant] for DUI. [Subsequently, Appellant] refused to submit to chemical testing.

Trial Court Opinion, 12/13/05, at 2-3.

¶ 3 Prior to the start of trial on October 27, 2005, Appellant made an oral motion for a jury trial. The Commonwealth objected, contending that there was no right to a jury trial based on the charges which precluded incarceration of greater than six months. The trial court agreed and denied the motion. Appellant was subsequently found guilty of DUI and related summary offenses and sentenced to six months of Intermediate Punishment, with the first seven days to be served on house arrest with electronic monitoring, plus fines. This appeal followed. 2

¶ 4 Appellant presents the following questions for our review:

A. WHETHER THE DEFENDANT HAS A RIGHT TO A JURY TRIAL UNDER ARTICLE 1, SECTION 6 AND ARTICLE 1, SECTION 9 OF THE PENNSYLVANIA CONSTITUTION FOR THE OFFENSE OF DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE/GENERAL IMPAIRMENT INCAPABLE OF SAFE DRIVING-REFUSAL-FIRST OFFENSE (75 PA.C.S. § 3802(A)(1))?
B. WHETHER THE COMMONWEALTH’S EVIDENCE FAILED TO PROVE EACH ELEMENT OF THE ALLEGED OFFENSE BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, AND WAS THUS INSUFFI *1239 CIENT TO CONVICT THE DEFENDANT?

Appellant’s brief, at 4.

¶ 5 Appellant first submits that although the maximum incarceration for a first offense under 75 Pa.C.S.A. § 3802(a)(1), with a refusal to submit to chemical testing, is no more than six months, this conviction severely affects subsequent convictions under the statute. Therefore, he argues that the offense should be considered serious in the constitutional sense and entitles him to a jury trial. We disagree.

¶ 6 “The test is clear. The decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States ‘have established a fixed dividing line between petty and serious offenses: those crimes carrying [a sentence of] more than six months [] are serious [crimes] and those carrying [a sentence of six months or] less are petty crimes.’ ” 3 Commonwealth v. Mayberry, 459 Pa. 91, 98, 327 A.2d 86, 89 (1974) (quoting Codispoti v. Pennsylvania, 418 U.S. 506, 512, 94 S.Ct. 2687, 41 L.Ed.2d 912 (1974)). It is well-settled that a legislature’s determination that an offense carries a maximum prison term of six months or less indicates its view that an offense is “petty.” Blanton v. North Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538, 543, 109 S.Ct. 1289, 103 L.Ed.2d 550 (1989). As further explained in Blanton,

It has long been settled that there is a category of petty crimes or offenses which is not subject to the Sixth Amendment jury trial provision. In determining whether a particular offense should be categorized as petty, our early decisions focused on the nature of the offense and on whether it was triable by a jury at common law. In recent years, however, we have sought more objective indications of the seriousness with which society regards the offense. [W]e have found the most relevant such criteria in the severity of the maximum authorized penalty. In fixing the maximum penalty for a crime, a legislature include[s] within the definition of the crime itself a judgment about the seriousness of the offense. The judiciary should not substitute its judgment as to seriousness for that of a legislature, which is far better equipped to perform the task, and [is] likewise more responsive to changes in attitude and more amenable to the recognition and correction of their misper-ceptions in this respect.

Id. at 541-542, 109 S.Ct. 1289 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted).

¶7 As set forth above, we determine whether an offense is serious by looking to the judgment of the legislature, primarily as expressed in the maximum authorized term of imprisonment. Here, by setting the maximum authorized prison term at six months, 4 the Legislature categorized the violation of § 3802(a)(1) as petty for purposes of a defendant’s jury trial rights. This categorization is not affected by the potential for a defendant to be subject to increased incarceration for a subsequent DUI offense. Much like a defendant charged with multiple petty offenses, the fact that the potential exists for an aggregate sentence exceeding six months’ incarceration does not entitle such *1240 a defendant to a jury trial. See Lewis v. United States, 518 U.S. 322, 327, 116 S.Ct. 2163, 135 L.Ed.2d 590 (1996) (stating “The fact that petitioner was charged with two counts of a petty offense[, and therefore faced an aggregate potential prison term greater than six months,] does not revise the legislative judgment as to the gravity of that particular offense, nor does it transform the petty offense into a serious one, to which the jury trial right would apply.”). Moreover, applying these principles in Blanton, the United States Supreme Court found that first-time DUI offenders, where the maximum authorized prison sentence does not exceed six months, are not entitled to a jury trial.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
906 A.2d 1237, 2006 Pa. Super. 233, 2006 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2215, 2006 WL 2423434, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-kerry-pasuperct-2006.