Donnell v. Commonwealth

453 A.2d 36, 70 Pa. Commw. 265, 1982 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1740
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedDecember 8, 1982
DocketNo. 45 Miscellaneous Docket No. 3
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 453 A.2d 36 (Donnell v. Commonwealth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Donnell v. Commonwealth, 453 A.2d 36, 70 Pa. Commw. 265, 1982 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1740 (Pa. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

Per Curiam

Opinion,

Richard Donnell has filed a complaint in mandamus, which we will treat as a petition for review, alleging that the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole violated its own regulations and the petitioner’s due process rights when it recommitted him to Roekview State Correctional Facility as a technical and convicted parole violator.

After the board filed a certificate from the board’s chairman, to which Mr. Donnell replied, and an amended answer with new matter, both parties filed motions for summary judgment. On motions for summary judgment, we review the pleadings in the light most favorable to the. non-moving party, Wolgemuth v. Kleinfelter, 63 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 395, 398, 437 A.2d 1329, 1331 (1981), and resolve any doubts as to the existence of a genuine issue of material fact against the party seeking that special remedy. Benefiel v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 57 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 401, 404, 426 A.2d 242, 244 (1981). For the reasons below, we deny Mr. Donnell’s motion and grant summary judgment to the board.

Mr. Donnell has raised essentially four issues and contends that resolution of any one issue in his favor warrants immediate discharge from prison. First, Mr. Donnell argues that his parole officer failed to [267]*267visit Mm witMn twenty-four hours of when the board issued a detainer warrant for technical parole violations,1 as mandated by 37 Pa. Code §71.2.2

The pleadings reveal that the board issued a detainer warrant on Friday, September 15,1978 and that Mr. Donnell’s parole officer visited Mm on Monday, September 18,1978.

Section 1502(a) (1) of the Statutory Construction Act provides generally that the terms of that Act apply to the Pennsylvania Code.3 In turn, 37 Pa. Code §71.5 (j) specifically provides that “[t]he number of days set forth in this chapter [37 Pa. Code Chapter 71] shall be calculated as prescribed by Section 1908 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes (1 Pa. C. S. [268]*268§1908).” Section 1908 provides that whenever any “period of time” referred to in any statute shall fall on Saturday or Sunday, such days shall he omitted from our computation.4

[267]*267(1) Except as otherwise provided in this part, the provisions of this part shall apply to the following unless the General Assembly or the agency adopting the document shall provide otherwise:
*' * *
(ii) Every document codified in the Pennsylvania Code except legislative, judicial and home rule charter documents.

[268]*268Thus, even if we construe the facts in a light most favorable to Mr. Donnell and accept his argument that his parole officer failed to visit him before Monday, September 18, we must exclude Saturday, September 16 and Sunday, September 17 as a matter of law from o.ur computation and therefore must reject Mr. Donnell’s position on this issue.

Second, Mr. Donnell contends that the board violated his due process rights under Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471 (1972) (for revocation hearings, parolee entitled to written notice of claimed parole violations, disclosure of evidence against him, and opportunity to be heard),5 by revoking his parole for a subsequent conviction6 without first providing him with f ormal written notice of the charges.

We have reviewed the Notice of Charges and Hearing which the petitioner received on November 7,1980, however, and find it sufficiently informative to meet the Morrissey standard because (1) under the “charges” section, the notice documents Mr. Donnell’s arrest in Maryland, describes the federal charge and [269]*269lists the date of his conviction, (2) informs him of the hoard’s plan to hold a violation and revocation hearing, (3) notifies him that the reverse side of the document describes his rights and (4), on that reverse side, defines a “revocation” hearing as that proceeding where the board has lodged a detainer as the result of a new conviction.7 Thus, we reject the petitioner’s Morrisey due process claim.

Third, the petitioner contends that the board’s revocation of his par.ole rests, in part, on an erroneous finding of fact, i.e., that he failed to obtain permission for travel to Maryland.

The pleadings do not reveal whether or not Mr. Donnell received permission to travel beyond his parole district. The board’s answer denies petitioner’s averment on that score and incorporates verbatim language from the chairman’s certificate, which is of no help on the point, stating .that “[although a Progress and iConduct Report, dated April 1977, indicated that the original parole agent involved . . . intended to give travel permission to Mr. Donnell, that agent has since retired, and the Board’s records indicate no document giving travel permission----”

We are mindful that we can grant summary judgment only in the clearest of cases where there is no doubt as to the absence 'of an issue of material fact, Wolgemuth at 398, 437 A.2d at 1331, quoting Leach v. [270]*270Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, 234 Pa. Superior Ct. 486, 492, 340 A.2d 491, 494 (1974).

However, whether or not Mr. Donnell had permission to travel to Maryland is of no moment, because even if we were to grant summary judgment to the petitioner and deny it to the respondent on this issue, such action would still not alter the fact that in its decision, the board also recommitted Mr. Donnell as a technical parole violator for failing to report regularly to his parole agent, a violation which the petitioner does not contest in Ms pleadings, and recommitted him as a convicted parole, violator on the basis of his conviction in federal court. See 61 P.S. §331.21 (a) (board, in its discretion, may recommit parolee any time after he has pleaded guilty to crime committed while on parole).

Consequently, because there are bases for sustaining the board’s revocation of Mr. Donnell’s parole independent of whether or not he received permission to travel to Maryland, we must reject the petitioner’s position on this issue.

Finally, Mr. Donnell contends that, in violation of 37 Pa. Code §71.2, the board failed to hold a hearing for alleged technical parole violations within 120 days of his preliminary detention ¡hearing.8 Chapter 37 of the Pennsylvania Code, Section 71.5(c) provides, in part, that “[i]f the parolee is . . . in Federal custody, the Board may lodge its detainer but all other matters shall be deferred until the parolee has been returned to a state correctional facility in this Commonwealth.” (Emphasis added.) See Harris v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 38 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 391, 393 A.2d 510

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Bluebook (online)
453 A.2d 36, 70 Pa. Commw. 265, 1982 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 1740, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/donnell-v-commonwealth-pacommwct-1982.