Commonwealth v. Lebo

713 A.2d 1158, 1998 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1015
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJune 24, 1998
Docket705
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 713 A.2d 1158 (Commonwealth v. Lebo) 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. Lebo, 713 A.2d 1158, 1998 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1015 (Pa. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinions

OLSZEWSKI, Judge:

This appeal requires us to consider whether a trial court may impose an Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD) condition that authorizes a county parole office to provide the specific terms of the program. We find that the trial court may do so and accordingly affirm.

Russell H. Lebo (appellant) was charged with indecent assault1 and corruption of minors 2 on September 28, 1995. Before trial, the Union County Court of Common Pleas admitted appellant to ARD. Among other conditions, the trial court required appellant to “be supervised by the Union County Adult Probation Office and comply with all the rules and regulations as imposed by that office.” Order of May 17, 1996 (filed June 12, 1996). The Union County probation office attempted to transfer appellant’s case to the Dauphin County office upon discovering that appellant resides in Dauphin County. Dauphin County, however, refused to accept appellant’s case unless appellant agreed to participate in sexual offender group therapy and to allow random searches of his home for pornographic materials. Appellant refused to accept these requirements.

The matter was returned to the. trial court on a motion to terminate appellant’s participation in ARD. The trial court found that, by accepting the supervision of the probation office, appellant agreed to accept requirements imposed by the office as a condition of his continued participation in ARD. The court then offered appellant an opportunity to submit to the Dauphin County requirements and continue in ARD. Appellant refused. Consequently, his ARD participation was terminated. The case was then tried before a jury. Appellant was convicted of corrupting minors but acquitted of indecent assault. The court sentenced appellant to a sixty-day-to-four-year term of incarceration and a $5,000 fine. Post-trial motions were filed and denied. This timely appeal followed.

Appellant presents three questions for our review.

A. Whether the trial court abused its discretion in removing appellant from the ARD program where appellant refused to abide by unreasonable, illegal and unconstitutional ARD conditions imposed subsequent to his admission to said program, which conditions appellant neither consented to nor received notice of prior to his acceptance into the ARD program[.]
B. Whether trial and appellate counsel3 were ineffective for failing to raise and preserve for appeal the issues of whether the imposition of a $5,000' fine against appellant was manifestly excessive under the facts of the case where appellant had no prior record and was acquitted of indecent assault but convicted of corruption of minors, whether the fine was based on impermissible factors, and whether it constituted an unlawful and unconstitutional forfeiture[.]
C. Whether trial and appellate counsel were ineffective for failing to raise and [1161]*1161preserve for appeal the issue of whether the imposition of a maximum sentence of 4 years imprisonment on appellant was manifestly excessive where appellant had no prior record and was acquitted of indecent assault but convicted of corruption of minors[.]

Appellant’s brief at 3 (trial court answer omitted) (footnote added).

We first consider appellant’s claim that the court erroneously terminated his ARD participation. Termination of ARD participation is charged to the sound discretion of the trial court. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 184. On appeal we will only reverse an ARD termination where the court abused its discretion or committed an error of law. See Commonwealth v. Jones, 437 Pa.Super. 345, 650 A.2d 60, 64 (1994).

At the outset, it is worth repeating our Supreme Court’s discussion of ARD policies.

ARD, accelerated rehabilitative disposition, is a pretrial disposition of certain cases, in which the attorney for the Commonwealth agrees to suspend prosecution for an agreed upon period of time in exchange for the defendant’s successful participation in a rehabilitation program, the content of which is to be determined by the court and applicable statutes.
Under ARD rules, which [the Pennsylvania Supreme Court] created in 1972 pursuant to our authority to supervise the lower courts, the district attorney has the discretion to refuse to submit a case for ARD, and if the case is submitted for ARD, the' court must approve the defendant’s admission. These rules, which appear at Pa. R.Crim.P. 175-185,4 also provide that the defendant must agree to the terms of the ARD, and that after he has completed the program successfully, the charges against him will be dismissed, upon order of court.' If he does not complete the ARD successfully, he may be prosecuted for the offense with which he was charged. The district attorney’s utilization of ARD is optional under the rules.
The impetus behind the creation of such rules was the belief shared by the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice that some “cases which are relatively minor or which involve social or behavioral problems ... can best be solved by programs and treatments rather than by punishment.”

Commonwealth v. Lutz, 508 Pa. 297, 495 A.2d 928, 931 (1985) (footnote and citation omitted).

Appellant first argues that therapy participation and random pornography searches are ARD conditions impermissibly imposed after appellant was admitted to the program. Appellant contends that he is entitled to the benefit of the bargain reached when he surrendered his right to a speedy trial. We first note that courts have broad authority to modify ARD conditions. Rule 182 provides that “[t]he conditions of the program may be such as may be imposed with respect to probation after conviction of a crime, including restoration, except that a fine may not be imposed.” Pa.R.Crim.P. 182. Section 9771(a) of the Judicial Code specifically provides courts with authority to modify the conditions of probation orders. 42 Pa. C.S. § 9771(a). Thus, courts are likewise authorized to modify ARD conditions. If new conditions are unacceptable to the ARD participant, she or he may withdraw from the program and proceed to trial.

In this case, however, the trial court concluded that its original order incorporated the new terms. Opinion of June 24, 1997 (filed June 25, 1997). The court found that appellant agreed to supervision by the probation office, including new terms imposed by that office. A trial court is entitled to great deference in the interpretation of its own orders. “Appellate review of a trial court’s actions relies heavily upon the sound discretion of the trial judge. Reversal occurs only in the event that a clear abuse of the trial court’s discretion is evident.” See Commonwealth v. Restauri, 444 Pa.Super. 593, 664 A.2d 593, 596-97 (1995). This is especially true when an appellate court reviews a trial [1162]*1162court’s interpretation of its own orders in an area particularly assigned to the court’s discretion. See generally Equipment Finance, Inc. v. Toth, 328 Pa.Super. 351,

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Commonwealth v. Lebo
713 A.2d 1158 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1998)

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Bluebook (online)
713 A.2d 1158, 1998 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1015, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-lebo-pasuperct-1998.