Opinion ID: 2287329
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: merger of robbery and aggravated assault for sentencing purposes

Text: Appellant maintains that the trial court imposed an illegal sentence by failing to merge the robbery and aggravated assault convictions for purposes of sentencing. The trial court imposed a sentence of ten to twenty years for the robbery charge and a concurrent term of five to ten years on the assault charge. In the recent case of Commonwealth v. Leon Williams, 521 Pa. 556, 559 A.2d 25 (1989), our Supreme Court set forth a new test for merger of sentences, holding that the test for merger is strictly whether the separate offenses are lesser included and greater included offenses, i.e., the crimes do not merge for sentencing purposes unless the same facts support convictions of lesser included offenses. In Commonwealth v. Weakland, 521 Pa. 353, 555 A.2d 1228 (1989), decided the same day as Leon Williams, the Court elaborated on the merger doctrine: [I]f a person commits one act of criminal violence, and that act is the only basis upon which he may be convicted of another crime, the act will merge into the other crime. If, however, the actor commits multiple criminal acts beyond that which is necessary to establish the bare elements of the additional crime, then the actor will be guilty of multiple crimes which do not merge for sentencing purposes. 521 Pa. at 364, 555 A.2d at 1233. In light of these principles, we find that the offenses of aggravated assault and robbery do merge in this case. Aggravated assault is defined as: (a) Offense defined.  A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he: (1) attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another, or causes such injury intentionally, knowingly or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life[.] 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 2702. The aggravated assault was established by appellant's act of shooting DeShields in the stomach. This same act established an element of the robbery offense, i.e., the infliction of serious bodily injury upon another. See 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3701(a)(1)(i). The Commonwealth argues that the pointing of the gun at appellant was such a distinct and separate act from the shooting that the robbery was completed when appellant pointed the gun at DeShields, see 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 3701(a)(1)(ii) (a person may be guilty of robbery if, in the course of committing a theft, he . . . threatens another with or intentionally puts him in fear of immediate serious bodily injury . . .), and that the subsequent shooting constituted an aggravated assault. We disagree that the pointing and shooting constituted multiple criminal acts. In Commonwealth v. Bell, 386 Pa.Super. 164, 562 A.2d 849 (1989), this Court held that where the victim of the assault was struck by two blows in rapid succession, one to the head and one to the face, the blows did not constitute separate crimes because there was no break in the action. Similarly, we find that the pointing and shooting of the gun was one act for purposes of establishing the elements of robbery and aggravated assault. According to the testimony of DeShields, appellant pointed the gun at DeShields' chest, DeShields tried to push the gun down, and appellant fired the gun. These acts occurred in rapid succession. Appellant did not wave or shake the gun in a menacing manner or otherwise threaten DeShields with the gun. It appears from the testimony that appellant pointed the gun merely as a prerequisite for shooting the gun at DeShields. Given these particular facts, we find that appellant did not commit any other criminal act beyond that which was necessary to establish the bare elements of robbery. We find that the aggravated assault offense merges with the robbery offense, and vacate the separate five to ten year term imposed for aggravated assault.