Opinion ID: 2401946
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Statistics on Commutation

Text: Appellant contends that the trial court erred in refusing to include, in its charge to the jury at the penalty phase, statistics on the commutation of life imprisonment sentences in the Commonwealth over the preceding years. In crafting this argument, Appellant relies upon the plurality decision of this Court in Commonwealth v. Trivigno, 561 Pa. 232, 750 A.2d 243 (2000) (opinion announcing the judgment of the court). In Trivigno, the lead Opinion stated: We now hold that when a Simmons instruction [17] is required because the prosecution has argued the defendant's future dangerousness, the trial court ... should inform the jury that a life sentence means that a defendant is not eligible for parole, but that the Governor has the power to grant a commutation of a sentence of life or death if based on the recommendation of the Board of Pardons following a public hearing. Further, the trial court should relay any available statistical information relating to the percentage of life sentences that have been commuted within the last several years. Trivigno, 750 A.2d at 255-56 (footnote added). Appellant maintains that, because the Commonwealth argued the issue of his future dangerousness during the cross-examination of his mother and at closing argument, the jury should have been instructed on the statistics of commutation. During the penalty phase hearing, the prosecutor inquired into whether Appellant's mother was aware of her son's prior convictions for robbery and assault. According to Appellant, the Commonwealth elicited this testimony as a means of arguing Appellant's future dangerousness. However, this Court has consistently recognized that evidence regarding a defendant's past violent convictions or conduct does not implicate the issue of his or her future dangerousness. Commonwealth v. Champney, 574 Pa. 435, 832 A.2d 403, 417 (2003), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 124 S.Ct. 2906, 159 L.Ed.2d 816 (2004); Commonwealth v. May, 551 Pa. 286, 710 A.2d 44, 47 (1998), cert. denied, 525 U.S. 1078, 119 S.Ct. 818, 142 L.Ed.2d 676 (1999). As such, absent a showing that the Commonwealth argued the Appellant's future dangerousness, a statistics on commutation instruction was not warranted. Nevertheless, the trial court informed penalty phase defense counsel: Well, if you have those statistics [on commutation] and you know that they're certified, I'd be happy to give them.... (N.T., July 8, 2002, page 27). In response, defense counsel dismissed the invitation, instead arguing that the Commonwealth carried the burden to provide the relevant statistical information. However, nothing in Trivigno infers that the Commonwealth carries the burden of providing statistics on commutation. Because Appellant failed to provide the trial court with any available and reliable statistical information regarding commutation, it was not error for the trial court to offer an instruction devoid of the statistics. Eventually, the standard jury instruction given by the trial court clearly stated that: If a life prisoner can convince the Board of Pardons that his or her sentence should be commuted, that is, made shorter and the Board of Pardons recommends this to the governor, the governor has the power to shorten the sentence. If the governor follows the Pardon Board's recommendation and commutes the sentence, the prisoner may be released early or become eligible for parole in the future. I'll tell you that the governor and Board of Pardons rarely commute a sentence of life imprisonment. You can assume that whenever they do so, they will act responsibly and will not commute the sentence of a life prisoner whom they believe to be dangerous. (N.T., July 8, 2002, pages 170-71). Even absent statistical information on the commutation of life imprisonment sentences in the Commonwealth, the aforementioned jury instruction, when read in its entirety, was proper. Accordingly, Appellant's claim warrants no relief.