Court Opinion

ID: 9753777
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 19:28:00.775855+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:27:41.965975
License: Public Domain

WIEAND, Judge,
concurring:
I agree with the majority that the judgments of sentence should be affirmed; and, therefore, I concur in the result.
In recent years, there have not been many issues which have received from this Court a more uneven treatment than claims that offenses have merged for purposes of sentencing. It was in recognition of this and in an effort to bring uniformity and predictability to this substantive area of the criminal law that a court en banc considered the merger of offenses in Commonwealth v. Williams, 344 Pa.Super. 108, 496 A.2d 31 (1985). The court there traced the history of the doctrine of merger, as well as the several standards applied by the decided cases, and adopted a rule to be followed in the future.
In the instant case, a majority of the court, in my judgment, has again increased the potential for uneven treatment of the merger of offenses. It has done so by holding that separate sentences for merged offenses cannot be waived. The effect of its holding, although the majority does not acknowledge it, is to encourage, if not compel, a reviewing court to decide merger issues sua sponte, without *71benefit of argument by counsel and without prior consideration by the sentencing court. The issue of merger of offenses for sentencing purposes is frequently a difficult issue. Sometimes it can be determined by examining the face of the record. In other instances, a determination can be made only after a full and complete review and analysis of the facts proved at trial. In the latter situation, I am persuaded that uniformity in the procedural and substantive law, as well as judicial economy, will better be served by requiring the merger issue to be raised in the first instance in the sentencing court.
I would adopt and follow the analysis laid out by Judge (now President Judge) Spaeth in Commonwealth v. Tolassi, 303 Pa.Super. 177, 181, 449 A.2d 636, 638 (1982), as follows:
Typically, the sort of defect that is not subject to waiver — which is what is really meant by saying that a sentence is “illegal” — will appear on the face of the record and will go to the power of the court to impose sentence. Thus the sentence may be outside the statutory limits for the crime of which the defendant was convicted. Commonwealth v. Brunner, 243 Pa.Superior Ct. 55, 364 A.2d 446 (1976). Or it may appear that there was no finding of guilt to support the sentence. Commonwealth v. Paige, 287 Pa.Superior Ct. 133, 429 A.2d 1135 (1981)____ Sometimes the claim is that convictions of two separate crimes should merge for sentencing because there was only one criminal act. In such a case, whether the sentence is illegal depends on whether it is clear from the [information] that there was only one criminal act, in which case the defect is apparent on the face of the record and the sentence is illegal. Commonwealth v. Walker, supra. If it can not be determined from the [information] whether there was only one criminal act, the defect is not apparent and the claim that the sentence was improper is subject to waiver. Commonwealth v. McCabe, 242 Pa.Superior Ct. 413, 364 A.2d 338 (1976), aff'd per curiam, 479 Pa. 273, 388 A.2d 323 (1978).
*72One who is a thief, whether because he has unlawfully taken or because he has dishonestly received a stolen automobile, commits a separate and additional offense every time he operates the vehicle without the owner’s consent. It is factually possible, however, that there may be only one criminal act, as where the act of operating the vehicle is also the act of unlawfully taking or receiving the vehicle. For the majority to determine in this case whether the several convictions merged has necessarily required a review and analysis of the facts established by the evidence. This, as the majority has conceded, “is crucial to determining whether the convictions merge.” (At p. 64).
An issue whose determination requires an evidentiary review and determination of the facts should not be raised for the first time on appeal. Similarly, a reviewing court should not be expected to conduct an evidentiary review sua sponte in such cases. In cases of this type, rather, the issue should be raised for the first time in the trial court. Where a review of the evidence is essential to determine whether there has been only one criminal act for sentencing purposes, that determination should be made in the first instance by the court which is responsible for imposing sentence.
If, in imposing sentence, the sentencing court commits an error, a petition to reconsider and/or modify the sentence will enable the court to correct its own error before an appeal is filed. Pa.R.Crim.P. 1410 “establishes that a petition to modify is a preliminary step in the sentence review process. Its purpose is to give the sentencing court an opportunity to reconsider the sentence and correct any mistakes which may have been made. It also makes appellate review more meaningful.” Commonwealth v. Anderson, 304 Pa.Super. 476, 482, 450 A.2d 1011, 1014 (1982).
These same considerations are applicable to claims that two or more convictions merge for sentencing purposes where a careful review of the evidence is necessary to determine whether there was only one criminal act. If such claims are not raised in the sentencing court, they have *73been waived, and they should not be considered for the first time on appeal. By adhering to this procedure we make the appellate process more meaningful, our task of review less onerous, and the results more predictable. Why should an appellate court, it may be asked, undertake sua sponte to decide difficult merger issues without input by either counsel or the sentencing court?
Moreover, I am unable to comprehend any good reason for refusing to allow a criminal defendant to effect a knowing waiver of a merger issue if he chooses to do so. If two convictions merge for sentencing purposes, the decisions clearly hold that only one sentence may be imposed. If the sentencing court erroneously imposes concurrent sentences on both convictions, however, a defendant may well elect to waive the defect for, in any event, the time which he will be required to serve is the same as if only one sentence had been imposed. The appellate victory which he may be able to achieve under such circumstances may not be worth the cost. Having made a knowing, affirmative waiver of the issue, however, neither he nor an appellate court should be allowed to revive the issue at a later date.
The sentences imposed in this case were concurrent. The sentence for unauthorized use of a vehicle was for not less than 11% nor more than 23 months in prison. The sentence for theft was probation for a period of five years. Appellant did not file a motion to modify the sentence as required by Rule 1410. The issue of the merger of the convictions for sentencing purposes was not at any time raised before the court which imposed sentence. I would hold, therefore, that the issue has been waived. I would not permit appellant to raise the issue for the first time on appeal. To hold otherwise, as the majority does, is to weaken the salutary effect of Rule 1410.
CAVANAUGH and McEWEN, JJ, join.