Court Opinion

ID: 9638994
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 16:00:59.602853+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:11.304325
License: Public Domain

KELLY, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. Appellant was convicted of indirect criminal contempt and sentenced to a term of six months imprisonment pursuant to the Protection From Abuse Act which provides in pertinent part:
(b) Notwithstanding any provision of the law to the contrary any sentence for this contempt may include imprisonment up to six months or a fine not to exceed $1,000 or both and the defendant shall not have a right to a jury trial on such a charge.
35 Pa.C.S.A. § 10190(b) (emphasis added). On appeal, appellant contends that the trial court imposed an illegal sentence upon him by failing to sentence him in accordance with the Sentencing Code which provides in pertinent part:
*252(b) Minimum sentence — The Court shall impose a minimum sentence of confinement which shall not exceed one-half of the maximum sentence imposed.
42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9756(b) (emphasis added).
I agree with the majority that an indirect criminal contempt proceeding is criminal in nature. My difference with the majority is purely one of statutory construction.
The two statutes in the instant case must be read together. If the legislature intended that a minimum sentence should not be imposed, it could have easily specifically stated that the mandate of 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 9756(b) did not apply. Cf. Commonwealth v. Ohlinger, 337 Pa.Super. 437, 487 A.2d 25 (1985) (the former Youth Offenders Act specifically prohibited imposition of minimum sentence); accord Commonwealth v. Ferguson, 381 Pa.Super. 23, 552 A.2d 1075 (1988) (noting that unlike ordinary restitution orders limited by the restrictions of 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 1106(c)(2), restitution for welfare fraud was expressly exempted from those limitations, 62 Pa.S.A. § 481(c)). Because the legislature has not specifically exempted sentences for criminal contempt under the Protection From Abuse Act from the general mandate that all sentences must have a minimum and a maximum, I would not imply such an exemption. Cf. Commonwealth v. Revtai, 516 Pa. 53, 74, 532 A.2d 1, 11 (1987). Rather, in absence of an express exemption I am of the opinion that we must enforce the provisions of the sentencing code, including the requirement of both a minimum and a maximum term for imprisonment. Commonwealth v. Ferrara, 487 Pa. 392, 402, 409 A.2d 407, 412 (1979) (Roberts, J., dissenting) (sentencing court failed to comply with sentencing code in sentencing defendants who had been convicted of criminal contempt); Commonwealth v. Falkenhan, 306 Pa.Super. 330, 452 A.2d 750 (1982) (defendant convicted of direct criminal contempt must have sentence imposed as required by sentencing code).
Hence, I dissent.