Opinion ID: 1545753
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Lack of proportionality

Text: Appellant's next assertion is that his death sentence is disproportionate under both Pennsylvania law and the Eighth Amendment. Proportionality review refers to judicial review of a death sentence in comparison with the sentences imposed in similar cases. See Commonwealth v. Gribble, 550 Pa. 62, 87-89, 703 A.2d 426, 438-39 (1997). Pennsylvania's capital sentencing statute used to require that this Court undertake such review in all death penalty cases: Section 9711(h)(3)(iii) of the statute required reversal of a sentence of death that was excessive or disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar cases, considering both the circumstances of the crime and the character and record of the defendant. 42 Pa.C.S. § 9711(h)(3)(iii) (repealed). This portion of the statute was removed, however, nearly ten years before Appellant's retrial. See Act of June 25, 1997, P.L. 293, No. 28, § 1. Appellant argues that his entitlement to proportionality review attached at the time of his offense, and hence, it is presently vested notwithstanding that his retrial occurred after the provision's repealer. Appellant is mistaken, as the operative event that triggers entitlement to proportionality review under Pennsylvania's capital sentencing scheme is the imposition of a death sentence, and not the offense itself. Commonwealth v. Sattazahn, 597 Pa. 648, 698-99, 952 A.2d 640, 670 (2008). Thus, proportionality review is not implicated in the present case. [30]