Court Opinion

ID: 9747238
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-27 15:04:53.908191+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:43:40.855051
License: Public Domain

SCHILLER, J.,
dissenting.
¶ 1 I respectfully dissent. Although I agree with the majority’s view that home monitoring is not the equivalent of custody, it is, nevertheless, a significant curtailment of one’s freedom. In my view, such a loss of liberty may not be imposed unless due process procedures have been met. Appellant, in this instance, was not afforded due process, and I believe credit must be awarded for the time he spent under home detention.
¶ 2 Appellant was in jail because he was unable to afford bail during the pendency of the Commonwealth’s appeal. For each day spent in jail, he was entitled to an equivalent one-day reduction of any sentence subsequently imposed. However, those conditions were arbitrarily changed not once but twice: first, when pursuant to a federal court order, Appellant was placed on home monitoring, and next, when the trial court ruled that Appellant would not be given credit for the time spent under home detention. Thus, Appellant’s sentence of four to eight years’ imprisonment was increased by thirty-four months of home monitoring as a result of a federal order of which Appellant had no notice, the consequences of which were unknown to him and which he was given no opportunity to dispute. In my view, failure to give Appellant credit in these circumstances violates the principles of fundamental fairness underpinning our criminal justice system.8
*294¶ 3 Moreover, I find this case more akin to Commonwealth v. Kriston, 527 Pa. 90, 588 A.2d 898 (1991), where a defendant released in error to home monitoring was held to be entitled to credit based on assurances given by prison authorities, rather than to Commonwealth v. Blair, 699 A.2d 738 (Pa.Super.1997) where no credit was given to a defendant who through bureaucratic oversight remained free on bail for two years after his appeal was decided. Quite simply, the defendant in Blair had no expectation of accruing credit against his sentence nor did he suffer a loss of freedom. Appellant herein and the defendant in Kriston each reasonably expected that the limitations on their liberty imposed by home monitoring were to be compensated by credit against their sentences. I believe the distinguishing fact in each instance is not whether the-defendant was given explicit or implicit assurances of credit, but whether he suffered a loss of liberty in the absence of procedural due process. Given the lack of due process here, I would award credit to Appellant for the time spent under home monitoring.

. "Procedural due process requires, at its core, adequate notice, opportunity to be heard, and the chance to defend oneself before a fair and impartial tribunal having jurisdiction over the case.” Commonwealth v. Fahy, 558 Pa. 313, 737 A.2d 214, 1999 Pa. Lexis 2578 (1999), (citing Krupinski v. Vocational Technical School, 544 Pa. 58, 674 A.2d 683, 685 (1996)).