Commonwealth v. Pellecchia

925 A.2d 848, 2007 Pa. Super. 150, 2007 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1499
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedMay 29, 2007
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 925 A.2d 848 (Commonwealth v. Pellecchia) 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. Pellecchia, 925 A.2d 848, 2007 Pa. Super. 150, 2007 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1499 (Pa. Ct. App. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION BY

KLEIN, J.:

¶ 1 Nicholas Pelleechia appeals from his judgment of sentence for criminal trespass. On appeal he claims that because the Commonwealth’s bill of information only charged him with criminal trespass as a second-degree felony (F — 2), the trial court erred in convicting him of the same crime graded as a third-degree felony (F-3). Specifically, Pelleechia claims that 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3503(a)(l)(i), which grades criminal trespass as an F-3, is not a lesser-included offense of 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3503(a)(l)(ii), which grades the crime as an F-2. Therefore, because the Commonwealth never amended the information to reflect a change in the grade of the offense, he was not on notice to defend against the newly graded crime and his conviction should be vacated. We disagree.

¶ 2 Today we hold that criminal trespass graded as an F-3,1 where the Commonwealth proves the defendant entered an occupied structure without the privilege to [849]*849do so, is a lesser-included offense of that same crime graded as an F-22 in section 3508 of the Criminal Code. While the greater offense defined in subsection 3503(a)(2)(ii) and graded as an F-2 requires the actor to break into an occupied structure, and the lesser offense, in part, requires mere entry, it is axiomatic that an individual cannot break into a building without actually gaining entry3 or, quite simply, entering it. Therefore, because the facts necessary to establish the elements under subsection 3503(a)(i) are subsumed by those necessary to establish the same crime graded as an F-2 under 3503(a)(ii), we find that the trial court properly convicted Pellecchia of the lesser included offense even though the Commonwealth’s information only charged him with criminal trespass as an F-2.

¶ 3 Alternatively, because defense counsel implicitly argued to the trial court at sentencing that the offense could be graded as either an F-3 or an F-2, and failed to object to the grading of the offense after sentencing, we could likewise find this claim waived.

Facts

¶ 4 The events leading up to Pellecchia’s arrest are sufficiently recounted in the Pa. R.A.P. 1925(a) opinion authored by the Honorable Abram Frank Reynolds as follows:

In 2004, the Complainant, Ms. Emma L. Boileau, a middle-aged woman, lived essentially alone at her home at 7206 Glenloch Street in Philadelphia County. During that year Ms. Boileau undertook the care of two young boys who were dropped at her home and deserted by her mother. At some point in the past the Defendant had permission to be in Ms. Boileau’s home because she was caring for his “cousins.” During the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays of 2004 Ms. Boileau was hospitalized. Pri- or to her hospitalization, Ms. Boileau told the Defendant, upon removing him from her home, “not to go near my home again[,]” and she changed the locks to her house. During Thanksgiving and Christmas of 2004, Ms. Boileau’s home was burglarized; “cleaned out.” Items totaling about sixty thousand ($60,000) dollars were removed from the house.
On December 27, 2004, Daniel Kinder-man, son-in-law of Ms. Boileau, went to check the property at 7206 Glenloc[h] Street. As he entered the door by key the umbrella stand fell over. It had been propped by the door.
“... I could hear commotion going on upstairs above me and as I proceeded to go up the steps I seen the [sic] [the defendant] in the bedroom, the door was open at the time, and he was rapidly trying to get dressed.”
At that point and before Mr. Kinder-man climbed the stairs, the door slammed shut. He tried to enter the bedroom by force and the bedroom bay window was heard to shatter. When he went downstairs he saw [the defendant] on the front lawn.
[The defendant], according to Mr. Kinderman, ran down Glenloc[h] Street threatening to kill Mr. Kinderman “... for what [he] had done.” According to Mr. Kinderman, prior to December 27th, he had met [defendant’s brother and defendant] at the house. He took their key and “let them go in and get whatever belonged to them out of that house.”

[850]*850Trial Court Opinion, 8/29/2006, at 1-2. The Commonwealth’s bill of information that listed, among other charges,4 the crime of criminal trespass, graded that offense solely as an F-2. Pellecchia was, however, convicted of criminal trespass graded as an F-3; he was acquitted of all other charges. Pellecchia was sentenced to serve two years’ reporting probation, with costs and fees.

Discussion

Section 3503 5 and Lesser-Ineluded Offenses

¶ 5 Pellecchia claims that criminal trespass as defined in subsection 3503(a)(l)(i) is not a lesser-included offense of that same crime outlined in subsection 3503(a)(l)(ii)., Specifically, Pellecchia claims that to be convicted under subsection 3503(a)(l)(i), a defendant must have acted in a deceitful way, employing clandestine and silent techniques to gain illegal entry to a premises. By contrast, Pellecchia claims that to be convicted of the crime of criminal trespass under subsection 3503(a)(l)(ii), where a person has broken into a premises, it is implied that the actor used destructive, aggressive and noisy actions to gain entry to an occupied structure. Because these actions are diametric opposites, he argues that an essential element of proving subsection 3503(a)(l)(i) is not found in subsection (a)(l)(ii) — thus the former cannot be considered a lesser-included offense of the latter. We disagree.

Commonwealth v. Gray

¶ 6 To substantiate his argument on appeal, Pellecchia relies upon Commonwealth v. Gray, 329 Pa.Super. 347, 478 A.2d 822 (1984). In Gray, this Court held that where the Commonwealth attempted to amend its information at the close of its case to change the grade of criminal trespass from an F-3 (subsection 3503(a)(l)(i)) to an F-2 (subsection 3503(a)(l)(ii)), it was improper and we vacated the defendant’s judgment of sentence for criminal trespass as an F-2. In Gray, we found that “Clearly, the grade of the offense in the instant case was changed, as were the elements required to prove guilt.” Id. at 825. Like Pellecchia, the defendant in Gray argued that the amendment to the grade of the crime of criminal trespass with which he was charged prejudiced him because he lacked notice with regard to the elements he was required to defend against at trial. Id. at 824. Additionally, and an important distinction between the facts of that case and the present case, the defendant in Gray argued that he was prejudiced because “the amendment raised the grade of the crime from a third to a second-degree felony, subjecting him to a more severe penalty.” Id. at 824. Moreover, our Court also based its decision to vacate the defendant’s sentence in Gray, in part, on the fact that the Commonwealth decided to amend its information so late in the game, contrasting that case with cases where amendments were permissible either prior to trial or on the day of trial. Id. at 825.

[851]*851¶ 7 While Gray

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Com. v. Verticelli, C.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2023
Com. v. Haney, J.
Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2018
Commonwealth v. Grove
170 A.3d 1127 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 2017)
Commonwealth v. Spruill
80 A.3d 453 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 2013)
Commonwealth v. Jackson
82 Pa. D. & C.4th 225 (Crawford County Court of Common Pleas, 2007)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
925 A.2d 848, 2007 Pa. Super. 150, 2007 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1499, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-pellecchia-pasuperct-2007.