Commonwealth v. Pfeiffer

579 A.2d 897, 396 Pa. Super. 641, 1990 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2398
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedAugust 17, 1990
Docket8161
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 579 A.2d 897 (Commonwealth v. Pfeiffer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme 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. Pfeiffer, 579 A.2d 897, 396 Pa. Super. 641, 1990 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2398 (Pa. 1990).

Opinions

[643]*643OLSZEWSKI, Judge:

This an appeal from the judgment of sentence of the Court of Common Pleas of Monroe County after a plea of guilty to one count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, 35 P.S. § 780-113(a)(30). On appeal, it is submitted that absent anything to the contrary in the court’s sentencing order, appellant’s state sentence for the instant crime should run concurrent to a county sentence he is currently serving. In addition, appellant argues that the sentence received in the instant case amounts to an infringement on his Eighth Amendment rights as it is disproportionate to the nature of the crime committed. Finally, appellant contends that under the facts of the instant case, the sentence imposed upon him was an abuse of discretion on the part of the trial court. For the following reasons, we affirm.

Appellant was originally charged in this matter with one count of possession of a controlled substance and one count of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. The charges were the result of appellant’s involvement in a sale of cocaine to an undercover police officer and an informant on August 12, 1988. On September 6, 1989, pursuant to a plea agreement, appellant pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver and a pre-sentence investigation was ordered prior to sentencing.1 In the meantime, however, appellant pleaded guilty to possession of a controlled substance arising out of an incident on September 2, 1989, where appellant was found shooting cocaine with a female companion in her automobile. As a result of this latest plea, appellant was sentenced by a district justice to ninety days in the Monroe County jail, plus fines and costs.

Thereafter, on November 2, 1989, the trial court sentenced appellant on the instant charge to a term of imprisonment totaling three-to-six years in a state correctional [644]*644facility, plus costs and restitution.2 Appellant, through counsel, filed a motion to reconsider the sentence on November 9, 1989, requesting a lower sentence because of family hardship and the fact that appellant was a drug user in need of medical help. Counsel then withdrew from representation, and appellant, through new counsel, filed another motion for reconsideration on November 13, 1989. In the second motion, appellant raised the issue of whether his prior sentence should run concurrent to or consecutive with the instant sentence. Appellant also raised additional reasons why the trial court should use its discretion to lower his sentence and grant him county rather than state time. After a hearing on the merits, the court denied the motions. Appellant then filed the instant appeal.

It is axiomatic that a plea of guilty constitutes a waiver of all defects and defenses save those concerning the jurisdiction of the court, validity of the plea, and any legal or discretionary challenge to the sentence. Commonwealth v. Becker, 383 Pa.Super. 553, 557 A.2d 390 (1990). Before we can review a sentencing matter, however, it must be properly preserved in the trial court by way of a timely motion to reconsider and/or modify the sentence. Pa.R.Crim.P., Rule 1410, 42 Pa.C.S.A. Failure to file such a motion, or the failure to file in a timely manner, waives all sentencing claims, except for those involving .the legality of the sentence. Commonwealth v. Bogden, 364 Pa.Super. 300, 528 A.2d 168 (1987); Commonwealth v. Smith, 386 Pa.Super. 626, 563 A.2d 905 (1989). As this Court has observed, “[t]he legality of sentence exception to the waiver doctrine has traditionally been limited to situations where the claim is that the sentence is facially illegal. The obvious example is a case where a sentence is beyond the statutorily prescribed limits.” Commonwealth v. Wallace, 368 Pa.Super. 255, 533 A.2d 1051 (1987). Another is where the claim centers around the propriety and manner in which [645]*645the sentence was imposed. Commonwealth v. Ragoli, 362 Pa.Super. 390, 524 A.2d 933 (1987).

Even where a sentencing issue is properly preserved in the trial court, we must next determine if the issue is properly preserved on appeal. Issues involving the legality of sentence are, of course, appealable as of right. 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9781(a). To reach the merits of a discretionary sentencing issue, however, we must determine: (1) whether appellant has set forth, in a separate section of his brief, a concise statement of the reasons relied upon for allowance of appeal; and, if so (2) whether appellant has advanced a colorable argument that the sentencing court’s actions were inconsistent with a specific provision of the Sentencing Code, or were contrary to the fundamental norms which underlie the sentencing process. 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9781(b); Commonwealth v. Tuladziecki, 513 Pa. 508, 522 A.2d 17 (1987); Commonwealth v. Hall, 382 Pa.Super. 6, 554 A.2d 919 (1989); Commonwealth v. Felix, 372 Pa.Super. 145, 539 A.2d 371 (1988).

Applying these standards to the case at bar, we will examine the instant claims. In so doing, we note initially that appellant’s first argument was raised in his second motion for reconsideration filed on November 13, 1989, one day after the statutory deadline. See Pa.R.Crim.P. 1410. While in other circumstances, this would result in a waiver of this claim, we agree with appellant that this matter goes to the legality of his sentence and is, therefore, not subject to waiver. Unfortunately for appellant, however, we find no merit to his contention.

Appellant contends that the trial court failed to indicate in its written order whether the instant state sentence was to run concurrent to or consecutive with a county sentence he is currently serving. In light of this failure appellant contends that, as a matter of law, the instant sentence is deemed to run concurrent to his county sentence. See Commonwealth ex rel. Woods v. Howard, 249 Pa.Super. 428, 378 A.2d 370 (1977); Commonwealth v. [646]*646Pristas, 222 Pa.Super. 254, 295 A.2d 114 (1972); Litzelman Appeal, 207 Pa.Super. 374, 217 A.2d 838 (1966); Commonwealth ex rel. Money v. Maroney, 202 Pa.Super. 505, 198 A.2d 380 (1964).3

Contrary to appellant’s line of case law, however, we are not dealing with a situation where both sentences were imposed by the same court to be served in the same institution. Here, we have a situation where different courts have sentenced appellant for different offenses to be served at separate and distinct institutions.

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Bluebook (online)
579 A.2d 897, 396 Pa. Super. 641, 1990 Pa. Super. LEXIS 2398, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-pfeiffer-pa-1990.