Opinion ID: 2350716
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Death Sentences

Text: The jury returned a verdict on November 12, 1971 that Aubran Wayne Martin was guilty of murder in the first degree. On the following day, pursuant to the split-verdict provisions of the Act of June 24, 1939, P. L. 872, Sec. 701, as amended, 18 P.S. § 4701 the jury met to consider penalty. It fixed the penalty at death. Post-trial motions followed, and were denied by the court en banc by an opinion and order entered September 29, 1972. Approximately a year later, on September 19, 1973, a sentencing hearing was held by the trial judge at which the Commonwealth presented testimony and arguments by both sides were heard. The court thereafter pronounced the sentence of death on appellant on each of the three indictments for murder. On June 29, 1972 the Supreme Court of the United States announced its decision in Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972). Contemporaneously with its decision in Furman v. Georgia, supra , the United States Supreme Court vacated the death penalty in two cases from Pennsylvania which were then before it: Phelan v. Brierley, 408 U.S. 939, 92 S.Ct. 2875, 33 L.Ed.2d 762 (1972) (on certiorari from the U. S. Ct. of Appeals for the 3d Cir.); Scoleri v. Pennsylvania, 408 U.S. 934, 92 S.Ct. 2852, 33 L.Ed.2d 747 (1972) (on certiorari from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania). See also Stewart v. Massachusetts, 408 U.S. 845, 92 S.Ct. 2845, 33 L.Ed.2d 744 (1972). The applicability of Furman to the law of Pennsylvania came before this Court in Commonwealth v. Bradley, 449 Pa. 19, 295 A.2d 842 (1972). In Bradley, the Court said: Appellant's final contention is that the imposition of the death penalty in his case violates the Eighth Amendment's ban against cruel and unusual punishments as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. In Furman v. Georgia, 408 U.S. 238, 92 S.Ct. 2726, 33 L.Ed.2d 346 (1972), the United States Supreme Court recently held that imposition of the death penalty under statutes such as the one pursuant to which the death penalty was imposed upon appellant is violative of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Accordingly, appellant's sentence of death may not now be imposed. See Moore v. Illinois, 408 U.S. 786, 92 S.Ct. 2562, 33 L.Ed.2d 706 (1972). (footnote omitted) 449 Pa. at 23-24, 295 A.2d at 845. Bradley's interpretation of the Furman decision has been consistently followed and death sentences imposed have been vacated in every case which has come to us since Furman. [26] Our most recent decision in this line of cases is that of Commonwealth v. Dobrolenski, 460 Pa. 630, 334 A.2d 268 (1975). We were there presented with much the same record and argument as the Commonwealth has offered in the case at bar. [27] What Justice Roberts said in speaking for the Court in Dobrolenski is equally applicable here: We have repeatedly held that Furman precludes imposition of death penalty under the statute in question. Commonwealth v. Scoggins, 451 Pa. 472, 481, 304 A.2d 102, 108 (1973); Commonwealth v. Ross, 449 Pa. 103, 105, 296 A.2d 629, 630 (1972); Commonwealth v. Lopinson, 449 Pa. 33, 34, 296 A.2d 524, 525 (1972); Commonwealth v. Sharpe, 449 Pa. 35, 44, 296 A.2d 519, 524 (1972); Commonwealth v. Bradley, 449 Pa. 19, 23-24, 295 A.2d 842, 845 (1972); cf. Commonwealth v. Senk, 449 Pa. 626, 296 A.2d 526 (1972). The Commonwealth recognizes this but offers an evidentiary record, not present in those cases, purporting to show that there has been no discrimination in the imposition of the death penalty on the basis of race, wealth, or nature of the proceeding leading to conviction (jury trials vs. pleas of guilty). However, as we recognized in the above cases, Furman holds that `the imposition of the death penalty under statutes, such as here involved, is violative of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.' Commonwealth v. Scoggins, supra, 451 Pa. at 481, 304 A.2d at 108 (emphasis added). Had we viewed evidence of the actual application of the statute as necessary for determination of its constitutionality, we would have directed evidentiary hearings in those cases. As we understand Furman, the constitutional prohibition extends at least to all death sentences imposed pursuant to statutes which give the sentencing authority unfettered discretion in imposition of the death penalty. Because this statute gives such discretion, the constitution forbids the execution of any death sentences imposed under its authority. Id. at 642-643, 334 A.2d at 274. See also Commonwealth v. Coyle, 460 Pa. 234, 332 A.2d 442 (1975), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 844, 96 S.Ct. 81, 46 L. Ed.2d 66 (1975). The death penalty was improperly imposed upon Martin and must be vacated as to each indictment. We will remand for the imposition of legal sentences. The convictions of appellant on each of the three charges of murder in the first degree are affirmed; the sentences of death are vacated, and the case is remanded for resentencing. ROBERTS, NIX and MANDERINO, JJ., concur in the result. EAGEN, J., dissents.