Commonwealth v. Mumma

13 Pa. D. & C.4th 32, 1991 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 42
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County
DecidedDecember 20, 1991
Docketno. 642 Criminal 1991
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 13 Pa. D. & C.4th 32 (Commonwealth v. Mumma) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Cumberland County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Mumma, 13 Pa. D. & C.4th 32, 1991 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 42 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1991).

Opinion

HESS, J.,

On February 3, 1991, the defendant, Edward S. Mumma, was arrested in Upper Allen Township, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, for driving under the influence and a failure to operate his vehicle within his lane of travel. A subsequent blood test revealed a blood alcohol level of .12 percent. Following a preliminary hearing in March of 1991, the case was bound over to court. The arresting officer indicated, initially, his consent to the entry of the defendant into the ARD program.

Following the preliminary hearing, the District Attorney’s Office conducted a routine review of the case for consideration of entry into ARD. The District Attorney’s Office determined that the defendant was not eligible and his case was listed for arraignment. Arraigned in July of 1991, the defendant’s case was set for trial during the September term. On August 6, 1991, counsel for the defendant requested reconsideration for entry into the ARD program from Albert H. Masland, assistant district attorney responsible for the ARD program. The case was continued from the September term to give the district attorney an opportunity to re-evaluate his decision. On October 22, 1991, the defendant was again informed that the District Attorney’s Office would not accept him into the ARD program. There[34]*34after, the instant motion for reconsideration of ARD denial was filed with the court and hearing was held thereon.

DISCUSSION

The authority of the district attorney in determining eligibility for admission into ARD has been dealt with by our appellate courts in several decisions. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held in Commonwealth v. Lutz, 508 Pa. 297, 495 A.2d 928 (1985) that the district attorney has the sole discretion in this regard. The Lutz case dealt with nine cases and separate defendants which matters were consolidated for disposition before the Supreme Court. In all of the cases, the prosecutors “openly specified their reasons for not submitting the cases for ARD, and those reasons, while they may be subject to disagreement as to their wisdom,” did not, according to the Supreme Court, amount to an abuse of discretion. Lutz, supra, at 310, 495 A.2d at 934. These reasons included a prior ARD for receiving stolen property, prior convictions for criminal trespass and theft, a prior ARD disposition for driving under the influence, other Motor Vehicle Code offenses, including fleeing a police officer, a prior conviction of pool selling and bookmaking, a charge with driving without a license as part of the same drunk driving transaction, etc. In upholding the discretion of the district attorney, the Supreme Court said:

“Since the judgment about who can benefit from ARD is subjective, and since society may be seriously damaged by a wrong judgment, the district attorney is not to be faulted if he errs on the side of caution. After all, the offenses with which the accused are charged in these cases involved the [35]*35risking of the lives of themselves and others, and it may well be that some offenders are better rehabilitated by a mandatory jail sentence and a temporary loss of their license than a program of treatment and instruction.
“In any event, the decision to submit the case for ARD rests in the sound discretion of the district attorney, and absent an abuse of that discretion involving some criteria for admission to ARD wholly, patently and without doubt unrelated to the protection of society and/or the likelihood of a person’s success in rehabilitation, such as race, religion or other such obviously prohibited considerations, the attorney for the Commonwealth must be free to submit a case or not submit it for ARD consideration based on his view of what is most beneficial for society and the offender.” (emphasis in original) Id. at 310, 495 A.2d at 934-935.

The legal principles as set forth in Lutz have remained in tact. They were more recently reiterated in Commonwealth v. Stranges, 397 Pa. Super. 59, 579 A.2d 930 (1990). That case dealt with the open policy of the Bucks County district attorney to withhold a diversion from criminal prosecution into ARD from any person charged with drunk driving if that person was involved in an accident of any kind with another occupied vehicle, regardless of fault. It was generally agreed in that case that while Stranges was under the influence of alcohol when involved in the motor vehicle accident, the accident was not his fault. In applying the holding in Lutz to the case at hand, the Superior Court said:

“Our Supreme Court in Lutz made it clear that the criteria for admission to an ARD program may relate to either one of two distinct areas of concern: ‘[1] the protection of society and/or [2] the likelihood of a person’s success in rehabilitation.’ Lutz, 508 Pa. at [36]*36310, 495 A.2d at 935, set forth in context, above. In fashioning his program for admission into ARD, the Bucks County district attorney has chosen to place the emphasis on the protection of society. We are not prepared to declare that the district attorney has abused the discretion lodged in that office when he suspends the prosecution of (and considers recommending for ARD) only that class of drivers not involved in an accident with another occupied vehicle.
“Once it is determined that the general policy bears some rational relationship to the protection of the public, it is improper to consider the manner in which or the degree to which that acceptable policy affects a specific driver. As a panel of this court said in Commonwealth v. Mowry, supra, 358 Pa.Super, at 237, 516 A.2d at 1272:
“‘Having found that the district attorney’s considerations, in general, were reasonable, the trial court was no longer in a position to continue its inquiry. Whether the trial court would find a particular individual a likely candidate for ARD is simply not the question. At issue, is whether or not the district attorney abused his discretion. The court has failed to identify criteria relied upon by the Commonwealth “wholly, patently and without doubt unrelated to the protection of society and/or the likelihood of (appellees) success in rehabilitation, such as race, religion or other such obviously prohibited consideration. ...” Commonwealth v. Lutz, 508 Pa. at 310, 495 A.2d at 935.’” Id. at 65-66, 579 A.2d at 933.

In this case, the district attorney carefully considered Mr. Mumma’s admission into ARD. The review indicated no criminal record in Cumberland County either as an adult or a juvenile. There were no summary offenses which excluded Mr. Mumma [37]*37as a matter of statutory law. It was noted, however, that Mr. Mumma had been convicted in 1984 of a retail theft offense. He had also been charged in 1988 with the offense of homicide by vehicle. When that charge was discovered, according to Mr. Mas-land, the following inquiries ensued:

“When that came across initially, Sonya Stiver, in our office, followed up on that to find out what happened, because there was no disposition. It was just down as homicide by vehicle, misdemeanor one, disposition not received.

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Bluebook (online)
13 Pa. D. & C.4th 32, 1991 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 42, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-mumma-pactcomplcumber-1991.