Court Opinion

ID: 9754432
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:00:22.094655+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:53.387460
License: Public Domain

Concurring Opinion by
Senior Judge Barbieri:
I concur in the result and rationale of this case but I feel some additional comment is warranted with regard to the burden of proof at a parole Revocation Hearing. Under the Boards regulations, a Revocation Hearing pertains to the situation where a parolee has violated parole by being convicted of a new crime which was committed while on parole. See 37 Pa. Code §§71.4(1), (3), (5), and 71.5(d). The fact of the parolees new criminal conviction is usually a matter of public record which is easily shown by the Board producing photocopies of such records. See Anderson v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 91 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 486, 497 A.2d 947 (1985); Davis v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 85 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 278, 481 A.2d 714 (1984). In view of that fact, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has stated that the primary purpose of a parole Revocation Hearing is not to determine whether the parolee has in fact been convicted of a crime, rather, its purpose is to determine whether, despite the new conviction, parole remains a viable means *50of rehabilitation and deterring future antisocial conduct. Commonwealth v. Kates, 452 Pa. 102, 305 A.2d 701 (1973); see also O’Hara v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 87 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 356, 487 A.2d 90 (1985); Simmons v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole, 74 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 283, 459 A.2d 897 (1983). I read that language to place the burden upon the parolee to show that he remains a good parole risk despite the new conviction. This may be accomplished by the parolee presenting to the Board any mitigating or justifying evidence that may exist to overcome the presumption raised by the new conviction that parole should be revoked. The Board certainly does not have the burden of showing the absence of such evidence in order to revoke the parole of a parolee who has been convicted of a crime committed while on parole.