Opinion ID: 1525843
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Claims of Entitlement to Restoration of Direct-Appeal Rights

Text: Appellee claims entitlement to restoration of his direct-appeal rights in order for this Court to conduct proportionality review and assess the record to determine whether his sentence was the result of passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary factor. See Initial Brief for Appellee at 96-99 (citing 42 Pa.C.S. ง 9711(h)(3)(i)). Appellee notes that the PCRA court failed to address such claims. In terms of proportionality review, Appellee claims a protected liberty interest in meaningful proportionality review. He explains that, from the time of his offenses until June 25, 1997, the Pennsylvania death-penalty statute required this Court to conduct a review to determine whether the sentence of death imposed in his case was excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases. 42 Pa. C.S. ง 9711(h)(3)(iii) (repealed). [22] Appellee invokes Gribble, which determined that 1997 amendments eliminating the requirement to conduct proportionality review could not be applied to death sentences issued prior to its effective date. See id. at 90-91, 703 A.2d at 439-40. According to Appellee, since his capital offense and initial trial occurred prior to that date, he has a vested right to proportionality review, and this Court's failure to recognize that right on direct appeal violated the ex post facto prohibition against adverse retroactive criminal legislation contained in Article I, Section 10 of the United States Constitution, as well as due process requirements. We differ with Appellee's arguments. As Gribble explains, former Section 9711(h)(3)(iii) applied to all death sentences issued while it was effective. See Gribble, 550 Pa. at 89, 703 A.2d at 439 ( When Gribble was sentenced to death on October 11, 1994, he became statutorily entitled to review in this Court, 42 Pa.C.S. ง 9711(h)(1), which at that time gave him the legislatively created right to proportionality review[.] (emphasis added)). The controlling fact here, however, is that Appellee did not receive a death sentence until after the repeal of the statutory prescription. Appellee does not develop a focused challenge to the understanding, reflected in Gribble, that the operative event which triggered the entitlement to proportionality review was the imposition of a sentence of death. [23] In short, his argument does not give rise to a basis for relief. Appellee's second point concerns the continuing statutory requirement that this Court affirm a death sentence unless it is determined, among other things, that the sentence of death was the product of passion, prejudice or any other arbitrary factor. 42 Pa.C.S. ง 9711(h)(3)(i). He points out, correctly, that this Court's opinion on direct appeal did not expressly address this portion of the statute. According to Appellee, this omission violated his statutory and due process rights, as well as his Eighth Amendment right to meaningful appellate review of his death sentence, and he is entitled to reinstatement of his right to a direct appeal. It is traditional for this Court to specifically discuss the review under Section 9711(h)(3)(i) in our opinions on direct appeal, and we acknowledge that it would have been preferable for us to do so in Appellee's case. Since, however, Appellee has been awarded a new sentencing hearing, the final review in this regard as it pertains to penalty, if necessary, may be accomplished at a later stage. At this juncture, we confirm that we have now twice reviewed the full record concerning Appellee's convictions and conclude that they were not the result of passion, prejudice, or any other arbitrary factor.